Monday, August 3, 2009

States -- Day 3 August 2, 2009

Sunday, Day 3 for Lexy, and her last day to improve her performance at her first appearance at a State meet. Lexy was scheduled to swim two events: the 50 breaststroke and the 400 freestyle relay.

In the 50 Breast, Lexy dropped almost an entire second, to finish 29th in the state.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpjCZlACXBU

The girls got ready for their 400 freestyle relay and were really pumped up. They had perfect exchanges and swam a great event, breaking the existing CUDA record and coming in fifth, but eventually finishing fourth in the state, after another team DQ'd. Coach Hall timed each of the girls and Lexy swam a 1:22.00 for her 100 Free, about 2.5 seconds faster than her fastest time this season. This would mean she was only a fraction of a second short of the qualifying time. She'll get it for next year's state finals.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5YsAi__wBc

We were so excited about their win and their moment on the medal stand!

Later, after the events were over, I was on the team that was in charge of sorting and handing out the medals. We had to award medals to kids and relay teams who placed 1st through 8th, for the 22 events that had just taken place. So you do the math -- 8 times 18 (for the individual events) and 4 times 4 for the relays. OK, I'm no math genius, but I think that's about 176 kids in a space the size of my kitchen, jostling and milling about trying to line up for their respective medal awards ceremonies. I missed Lexy getting her medal, but Coach Hall assured me she got photos of the team and of Lexy. I got a shot of Lexy in her medal afterward.

Overall, it was great to be qualified to swim at the State meet this year, and it was a great experience with both high and low points. We enjoyed our weekend away. Now it's time for a short break and time to get ready to go back to school.

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