​Well, this will be the first --- and last --- time I will write about our annual Varsity Banquet.  These banquets are always fun, but this one was bittersweet as it was the last of my high school swimming career.  It is always a special treat to get together with my teammates at these events.  Usually, our time together is in the pool and it rarely occurs that all of us can mix and mingle on a purely social basis.  At these banquets, our coach, Sandra, always gives a very flattering speech about each of us --- even if we messed up a few times.  She’s good at this inspirational stuff and we all appreciate it.  Coach also told us that, of all the teams in our school, the Girls Swim Team has the best academic record this year.  A bunch of us got little "scholar-athlete" pins for this.  These banquets are also the time when a few swimming awards are given out.  I was very flattered this year when a teammate and I were given “Most Valuable Swimmer” trophies.  That made me feel really good.  My teammates and I that broke the school record for the 200 medley relay also received trophies.  Finally, because of my performance at the annual Sectionals meet, I received medals for how well I did in the 100 fly and 200 free.  So, it was a great banquet --- socially as well as from the point of view of making me feel like I may have gotten a little bit faster in the past year or so.  It’s too bad it will be the last one.  But life goes on.  New adventures lie ahead…

​Wow!  What a great meet and what a great way to end my high school swimming career!  I medaled in all four of my events!  In the 100 fly I made a personal best of 1:01.66 which got me first place (Sectional Champion!) in that event for the meet.  My coach said she was crying because she was so happy.  I think it has been a long time since someone from our school made first place in an event at a Sectionals meet.  I did OK in the 50 free and came in third.  The heat for this event was kind of slow.  Five girls were in the 25’s during prelims and only two were in that range in the finals.  I think the same thing happened last year.  People say that this pool is slow for some reason or other.  I was on our relay teams for both the 200 medley relay and the 400 freestyle relay.  We made second place on both these events.  Our time of 1:54.08 in the medley relay prelims is now a record for our high school.  My split time for the fly in this event was 27.16 which I was pretty proud of.  It makes me happy that my name will be on the record board in the school pool!  I wonder how long it will be there…

So, I’m feeling good about swimming right now and am looking forward to swimming in college and to continuing to compete with the FSM national team.      

A few weeks ago we had our Sectionals meet.  I had high hopes of making a personal best in the 50 free.  But, no luck.  Our heat promised to be extremely competitive as seven of us had prelim times in the 25's with one girl way ahead of the pack with a 24.06.  Well, to make a long story short it turned out to be a very very SLOW heat with the winner coming in at only a 25.07, a full second slower than her prelim time.  Maybe the rest of us can blame our slow times on her!  My time was a 26.09.  Not bad, but I at least had hoped to be in the 25's.  That's the way it goes, I guess.

However, we did great in the 200 yard freestyle relay.  We have four fast freestyle swimmers this year and all of us can swim in the 25's.  Our prelim time set a new high school record and we were hoping to qualify for State competition in the finals.  We needed to cut a second off our prelim time to do this.  But, again, no luck.  One of us didn't swim her best and we didn't make it.  However, we came in second and my split time was a 25.20 which is a personal best for me.  So, I guess you could say that it was a good meet!

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Last Saturday we had our annual Varsity Sectionals Finals meet.  I finally did OK and got personal bests in the two individual events I participated in.  I was extremely happy (and surprised!) to get second place in the 50 Free.  There were five of us who finished only hundredths of seconds apart and we didn’t know who would get second until we saw the times on the scoreboard.  Boy, was I happy to be the leader of that pack.  The first place finisher was a second ahead of us.  Here’s the way the times worked out:

1    24.38
2    25.50
3    25.54   
4    25.69
5    25.74
6    25.88
7    26.24
8    26.32

So, the bottom line is that, for the next year or two, there will be some serious competition among us.  You could even say that I was “lucky” to get second place.  But, that’s the way swimming competition goes…

The 100 Fly was my second event.  I only came in eighth.  But, I made a personal best.  That’s the important thing!
 

Well, I've done it again.  I must be the worst person in the world when it comes to keeping a blog up to date.  This year's YMCA State Championship was a few weeks ago, from March 17 to March 19, at Ithaca College.  I had been in a slump all this past swimming season (I think because I didn't train all last summer!), but I had hoped that I could get out of that slump at States.  No luck, unfortunately.  I managed to improve my PR for the 100 free a tiny bit.  But, my times for the 100 fly and 50 free weren't even as good as at the 2016 Championships.  Live and learn, I guess.  This year, I have resolved to train harder than ever and, of course, no summer vacation --- at least as far as swimming goes!

Well, it's hard to believe that I haven't posted anything since last year's State championship!  I must do better at keeping you informed as to what's new around here!

This year I competed with the 13-14 year old group.  So, at 13 years old, I was at a bit of a disadvantage.  But, I did alright anyway.  In fact, I made personal best times in all of the three events I competed in!  Boy, this felt good as I had been in a kind of a slump for the entire year.  Here are my times and how I placed in the events.  Next year I will do even better! 

Event            Time          Place
50 free             25.87         4
100 free           58.19        11
100 fly           1:05.08        14

Here's a photo of me in my back yard holding my medal and ribbons as well as an award for "hardest Working" that I received at the end of the Dolphins season.