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| FRIDAY, AUGUST 1, 2008 |
PICTURES / VIDEO |
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Today was the last day of the meet.
Ben had his 200 Butterfly and Murphy had his 100 Breaststroke.
We woke, ate, and headed off to the pool with the same routine,
grabbed our comfy spot by the big blanket roll and warmed up.
The only difference was that Keegan had to leave yesterday, so
he wasn't there. At breakfast, we all admitted thinking,
"Is Keegan not up yet?" Ben's event was first, right after the relays. He was a little off again in his fly today, adding about 3 seconds. Obviously, he wanted to do better, but he was happy that he had some good swims earlier in the meet and, overall, had a really good time at his last Y Nationals. Ben will attend Wheeling Jesuit University, a Division II school in West Virginia, in the fall. He received a scholarship to swim, so congratulations and good luck, Ben! Murphy finished the meet with a great swim in his 100 Breast, dropping 6 seconds, from a 1:20.7 to a 1:14. Murphy requalified both his events for next year's meet. After the meet, we grabbed our last Smoothie King and both boys headed back on the road for home. I relaxed at the hotel and then went to a pizza party this evening for all the YMCA volunteers. In summary, we had a good meet. We had 4 out of 7 best times and had a lot of fun. Ben and Murphy got in some best times and Keegan got his first experience at Nationals under his belt and will do great next year. There's a lot to adjust to for someone who hasn't experienced a big championship meet, between the size of the meet, length of the meet, and how it runs. It's a tiring meet, four days of swimming, fix to six days in a hotel, running around to and from the meet...to and from Smoothie King. There's a lot of distractions with tons of kids, coaches, officials, and photographers buzzing around doing this and that. The heats start from both ends, just like our Dr. Pepper meets used to run in the 90's; once the last person in one heat crosses halfway and has about 20 meters left, the next heat starts in behind them. Therefore, except for finals, it's never quiet for the start as you have the crowd cheering on the heat that's still in the water when your heat is started. You have to exit the pool very quickly and, if you're swimming butterfly, you can see the person down the pool racing for the finish in front of you. Kids learn to stay focused, to stay within themselves and race their own race. I'm happy with how we did this year. I look forward to it next year, hopefully with even more kids! I wrote down some t-shirt quotes I liked this week, but ended up losing the piece of paper. Here are some that I remember: "Those who say 'It can't be done' are passed by those who are doing it" "Every race is won or lost in 8.5 inches (the distance between your ears)" On front: "Dude, can you
bring me my goggles?"
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Click to enlarge each photo.
Floswimming is doing interviews and taping footage at the meet. Go to www.floswimming.org to view some footage from Y Nationals. The YMCA Nationals website also posts pictures each day along with a live webcam. |
