Dearborn Freeze or Fry, June 19, 2010

Up and at'em early today, for Lexy to swim four events: 50 Back, 100 Breast, 50 Free and 100 Fly. It rained overnight and the day is clear but still a little muggy. I'm glad the rain was over with last night -- in some areas the power is out and there were tornado warnings. Some of our teammates were camping a little north of where the meet is being held, and they had a pretty rough night. Hope they have a good day of swimming.

The backstroke isn't Lexy's best, but today she managed to cut about 2.5 seconds off her best time, finishing at 46.89. She's getting better at this, but a better breaststroke time is what we were after today. She came through, finishing 10th overall in her age group and shaving about 2 seconds off her best time to finish at 1:46.88. Way to go!

In the 50 Free, Lexy had qualified for states last weekend with a 37.22, and she was able to better her time today by about .25 seconds, finishing at 36.97. Her time in the 100 Fly, her last event, was about the same as her seed time, so there was no major change up or down on that one. Surprisingly, she finished 5th overall in that event. Once again, we had a great day. It easy to see that all the practice is paying off.

Just for fun, in the afternoon, Lexy and Jenny and I went to see Toy Story 3 in IMAX 3D at the Henry Ford. What a great way to end the series. Granted, it was a bittersweet ending. This movie is such a huge part of my life, I even based a presentation at work on it. I bought my own Woody and Buzz figures and couldn't ever think of parting with them. This was also a fun thing to do with the girls, since Jenny will be moving soon and swimming with a new team. Lexy will miss her, but she will remember seeing Toy Story 3 with her.

Dearborn Freeze or Fry, June 18, 2010

Freeze or Fry? I'd like to suggest a third option -- how about Melt? It was in the 90's today when we arrived, and we are thankful to have a couple of E-Z-up tents to help shield us from the afternoon sun. There's a little breeze, but the humidity must be up in the 90's too, because not one of us wants to move! As each of Lexy's events comes up, I take my wide-brimmed hat and get myself over to the bleachers to cheer her on, and then I get myself right back into the shade.

She had a great afternoon, finishing her 100 Free 2.2 seconds faster than her seed time and just a half second off the state qualifying time.

The big surprise of the evening, however, was watching Lexy swim the 200 IM. Last weekend, she had finished at 3:26.44, but today she finished at 3:20.14, 4 seconds below the qualifying time! She managed to shave more than 10 seconds in the last two meets. Way to go Lex!

JAWS, Day 3 -- June 13, 2010

Lexy continued her great swimming performance on Sunday even though the day started with the 100 Butterfly and continued with the 200 IM, two of the toughest events of the weekend. Once she finished the 200 I.M., however, we found out that four kids on our team -- Arthur Manwell, Lydia Hillbrand, Bridget Bruneau and, of course, Lexy, had all qualified for trophies for completing the requirements of the IMX Challenge.

To complete the IMX Challenge, 9 & 10 year olds had to swim five events: the 200 Free, 200 IM, 100 Fly, 100 Back and 100 Breaststroke.

In addition to that honor, Lexy had another great day, finishing all four events today within a second or two of her best time.

We have swim meets for the next few weekends leading up to the 4th of July weekend, so Lexy has a lot of opportunity to better her times even further.

JAWS, Day 2 - June 12, 2010

After Friday night's performance, we were excited to get up and return to the pool to see what Saturday would hold. Lexy was scheduled to swim four events today: the 200 Free, the 100 Breast, the 50 Free and the 100 Backstroke.

Lexy was seeded third in the 200 Free and was already qualified for the State meet with a 2:50. 57, but succeeded in dropping 4 seconds to finish second overall with a 2:46.73. It was a great start to the day!

When Lexy swam the 100 Breaststroke, we mistakenly thought she already had a 1:44.44, but that is her backstroke time. She actually had a 1:48.18, and managed to shave off 0.14 to finish at 1:48.04. At first we thought she had added time, but we realized the error and congratulated her for the improvement! I'm pretty sure she placed in the top 5 or 6, but will need to check the results.

The next event, the 50 Free, was a real surprise. Lexy went into this event with a 37.43 and needed to drop 0.04 to get a state qualifying time. She dropped 0.21! Her finish time was a 37.22, and I had to look twice to realize she had just qualified for states. This earned her a meet T-shirt from mom!

Finally, Lexy geared up to swim the 100 backstroke, definitely not one of her favorite events. She again surprised us by dropping 2.21 seconds, to finish at 1:42.23. So far, she's finished five events finished and has come away with five best times! All I can say is -- way to go kiddo!

Jenison Area Wildcats Swimming, June 11

Hey, who turned on the heat? Wow, is it ever HOT and MUGGY here in Southwestern Michigan! The weather on the web says it is 82 and feels like 88. That, my friends, makes the air a little thick.

But that's nothing to the sizzle our CUDA swimmers are leaving in the Jenison High School pool. Tonight, Lexy swam her first of 9 events. the 400 freestyle. She was seeded first at 6:02, and the entire event she was, literally, neck and neck with two other girls. She really swam her heart out and I was so proud when she finished at 5:52.60, just three-tenths behind the first place finisher. She dropped 10 seconds from her best time!

What made this finish even more special was that this is the first meet where we have guests attending! Lexy's grama and grampa came all the way from New Jersey to attend Lexy's older sister's high school graduation, and they decided to stick around and see what a real swim meet is like. It's a great start to the weekend.

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.

Junior Olympics, March 6, 2010

It turns out that it is hard to describe the Junior Olympics swim meet. For that reason, I'm going to quote the meet program's description: "The Junior Olympics meet is the middle level meet (above Districts and below State Meets) of the Michigan Swimming, Inc. Championship Meets. Thus, it is a "Faster than/Slower than" stated time standard swim meet." To enter this meet, Lexy needed to have "Q2" times, which are faster than an "A" time but slower than a Q1, or state, time. Confused? No worries. It was a fun day.

One of the reasons kids choose to swim the Junior Olympics (other than to say they did it!) is to try to better their Q2 times to Q1 times. Lexy is close to a Q1 on a lot of her times, and if she were able to get Q1 times in any event she swam today, she would automatically qualify to swim that event at the state meet next weekend.

Her first event, the 50 Free (two lengths), is one she has been struggling with all season. Lexy has proven herself to be a good endurance swimmer, less so a sprinter. She has been sitting at a best time of 33.53 for a few months for the 50 Free and, for this event, was seeded last out of 27 qualified swimmers. Today, by some miracle, she finally dropped half a second to finish at 33 seconds flat, in 18th place. The Q1 time was 31.69, so we didn't get there today, but this drop of half second was a huge accomplishment. Great job Lex!

Watch Lexy swim the 50 Free:

Next up, and without much rest time between events, was the 100 IM. Lexy went into this event with a 1:23.60 and needed a 1:19.99. She was seeded 13th, but we didn't think there was much chance for her to drop more than four seconds. This is another event where Lexy hasn't been able to take time off. I attribute this primarily to the fact that her transitions in and out of the backstroke aren't that strong. She finished a little slower today (not more than a second) and in 24th place. Still, a very strong finish.

Watch Lexy swim the 100 I.M.:

Now came the event where we knew Lexy could shine. She has been dropping time all season, but started plateauing about six weeks ago. A couple of times she even added a second or two. When we looked at the list of seeded swimmers, Lexy was seeded first! She was going into the event with a 2:32.13, and needed a 2.31.59 to qualify for States. She needed to drop a little more than half a second.

She pulled it out! Lexy came through and finished at 2:30.91, and third overall. We were thrilled that we were able to finish this meet on such a high note.

Here's Lexy sporting her third place medal!

Watch parts 1 & 2 of Lexy swimming the 200 Freestyle (8 lengths):

We will be back in the pool tomorrow (Sunday), to swim in the League championship meet at Dow High School. Lexy has a few more chances to get qualifying times and achieve personal bests before States next weekend!