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.
You betcha, we are proud of our girl also. She did a greaaat job on Saturday and we are looking forward to the Princton event, and the one on the 19th. All free days for us in this busy month here at the Villages
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