2010 Michigan 12 & Under Short Course State Championships

It is with great pride in Lexy's achievements this season that we find ourselves at the Short Course State meet at Waterford Mott High School in Waterford, Michigan.

Just a handful of swimmers from Lexy's team made qualifying cuts, so we went into this meet very aware of what a special honor it is.

Lexy's first event at the meet starting Friday was the 500 freestyle -- 20 laps in a 25 yard pool. She qualified for this event just a few short weeks ago at the Michigan Open, beating the qualifiying time by 7 seconds. I chose not to video this event because it does get to be quite long (seven minutes)!

Here's Lexy, waiting for the start.

Lexy swam a good race. Her turns looked good, and she did a dolphin kick off the wall a few times, which is important. While she finished a few seconds slower than her qualifying time, her overall ranking went up to 27 out of 35.

Here she is after her race: still smiling!

On Saturday, we went back for the balance of Lexy's races: the 200 Free and the 100 Breaststroke. In both races, she was seeded last or next to last. Her goals for the day were to improve her standing in the rankings.

In the 200 Free, she swam strong, finishing with a 2:30.80, right on her qualifing time and better than the time she got at Junior Olympics. She finished ranked 18th of 25, and was second alternate to swim the Finals if anyone in the top 16 scratched from the Finals. Unfortunately no one scratched, so she didn't get to swim in the final.

Watch Lexy swim the 200 Free:

In her last event, the 100 Breaststroke, she finished about one second slower than her qualifying time, next to last in the rankings.

Watch Lexy swim the 100 Breast:

Overall, Lexy had a great season, qualifying for three events and getting to participate in the short course state meet for the first time. Now Lexy gets a much-deserved break before the next season starts.