The fact that we still went hard in practice last week makes those times even better. At state we might see some even more outstanding times.

These things happen on a real disaster. It's good practice.

She still comes to practice. She works out with the throwers. They do things she can do without hurting her knee. We'd love to see doctors OK her to at least throw the shot put. But we miss her in long jump and the relays. I've got no assistant coaches, so she's kind of my volunteer assistant.

We'll have to improve in the medley to get to finals. But the girls have had a great week, and I think they can do it.

The split differences between some of our girls are a matter of one-hundredth of a second. We probably won't know what those teams will be until Friday.

Those three have stepped up to fill the void Katie left. Losing Katie could have been a blow to our program, but those three have kept the morale high.