Neptune Classic, October 23, 2011

Having just finished a very successful first day of a two-day meet, and with three more difficult events ahead, I was hopeful that Lex would do well, but a small part of me also warned, "Don't be disappointed if she doesn't." We have been through this before -- we've enjoyed great success on the first day only to fall apart on day two. But Lex was exuding confidence -- something I'm not used to seeing.

Mom and Dad came out to watch her swim on Sunday, a rare treat! I tried to select better seats because the architect at this particular venue apparently thought very little of spectators and placed HUGE columns in the way of viewing. But, we did the best we could.

Lexy's first race of the day was the 100 Backstroke -- never her favorite. She has a long history of being DQ'd for illegal turns. However, today she was determined to surprise us all, especially herself! She was seeded at 1:33.11 and she had a great start. She was about fourth in her heat until the third lap and then started to pull ahead. By the third turn she was in the lead and finished first in her heat, to my astonishment. Then, when I checked her time, I had to double check which lane she was in because the clock showed 1:18.54. Oh my goodness -- can that be right? I checked it again -- and it was! Some quick math on my part said she had gone about 15 seconds faster than her seed time, and slid right over the Silver qualifying time. I let out a deep breath because then I knew that Sunday had the potential to be just as good, or better, than Saturday.

With that huge hurdle behind her, Lexy got ready for her 100 Fly. She was seeded at 1:28.00 and, again, this isn't one of her favorite events. She took off and looked great. Just watching anyone do that stroke makes me tired. But she came through with flying colors, just about 2 seconds faster at 1:26.17, and finishing 16th overall in that event.

Just the 200 IM was left, and Lexy was feeling great. Finally, an event with a breaststroke element! She was able to catch up to others in her heat during that part of the event and went from a 2:50.87 to a 2:47.36 -- still a Silver time, and about 2.5 seconds faster.

What a fantastic start to the season! We couldn't be prouder.

October 22, 2011 -- Neptune Classic

It's been almost a year since my last post, and so much has happened! Not the least of which, we've moved from Michigan to New Jersey and Lex has started swimming with a new team, Elite Swim Club in Morristown. It's a big club, and Lex has worked hard since the beginning.

In New Jersey they structure their meets a little differently, and I like the new arrangement. Instead of having just a morning session for 12 & Unders and an afternoon session for 13 & Overs, they divide the day into thirds: 10 & Unders in the morning, 11-12 around noon, and 13 & Overs in the 3-4 pm timeframe. This keeps the sessions much shorter for everyone. And, there are so many in the 11-12 age group, they definitely seem to need their own session.

The head coach put Lexy in the 50 back, 50 fly and 200 freestyle for Saturday. In the past Lexy hasn't enjoyed swimming back and fly, but they've been working on these strokes quite a bit in practice. Apparently all that practice has paid off!

First, in the 50 Backstroke, Lexy was ranked 20 out of 77 entries -- not too shabby. Today, she dropped 2.21 seconds, from 38.62 to 36.83, earning her a Silver time by NJ swimming standards. (In NJ, Silver times are roughly equivalent to A times in Michigan, while Gold times are roughly equivalent to Q1 or State qualifying times. However, a quick review shows that NJ Gold times are faster than Q1 times by a fair margin.)

In the 50 Fly, her second event, Lexy was ranked 38 out of 84 and was just looking to improve on her best time of 40.10, which she set back in December 2009. She made good on that goal, swimming a 37.87, a huge improvement! She needs a little bit more to earn a Silver time.

Finally, in her third event, the 200 Free, Lexy had already qualified for a Silver time with her seed time of 2:26.69. She was positioned well going into the meet and was ranked 8th of the 44 entries. She swam in the last heat and finished 7th, with a new best time of 2:23.42, a drop of 3.27 seconds!

Needless to say we were delighted with her improvement and, since there were so many family members present who haven't been able to come out and see her swim, that made it even more special. We're excited about the 2011-2012 season and are looking forward to tomorrow's events eagerly.