Swim Meet #6!

Last night's meet had a dramatic beginning, as a round of crazy storms had just come through. We took our time getting there, knowing that every time we heard thunder was another 30 minutes it would be delayed. Arrived around 5:15 and the skies were still grey. Just as we were putting our things out on the chairs, there was more thunder and two massive lightning strikes SCARY close. Everyone ran under the snack bar awning and into a nearby pavilion. This turned out to be a good thing, because Tom and the boys and I found a quiet corner and ate the dinner I had packed. It was relaxing for a change as opposed to shoveling food into our mouths between events. At 6:05, they decided to skip warm-ups (genius!) and the timers and kids were getting in position.... and.... more thunder.

Thankfully, that was the last of it, so things got under way around 6:30 and moved super fast. It was the most efficiently-run swim meet we've attended thus far. 

I had forgotten that Ben's science teacher from last year goes to this particular pool and we ran into him when we walked in. Ben was awkward in that "I just ran into my teacher in a place outside of school" way. ;)   Then it turned out, Mr. H. was the announcer and he was so funny. Cracked jokes all night and gave sports scores. The best though was when Ben stepped up to swim his first event and he announced him as: "And swimming for Eagles Nest in lane 2, the best science and social studies student I have ever had the pleasure of teaching.... Ben Graff!!" LOL. Too funny. 

Between that and having to reset after someone else's false start though, I think Ben was a little thrown because it was NOT his best freestyle swim ever. I was hopeful he'd have a good shot last night too because that pool is significantly shorter than any other in the league and he could push harder from the start without fizzling out. But.... no dice. Came in fourth of six. 

Simon swam freestyle next and did AWESOME! He stayed right with the pack. I think he came in last but he swam really great!! 

After that, we had a huge break until Simon's backstroke and Ben's butterfly. Jonathan is such a trooper at these meets. He is loving the away ones because there is always a new baby pool and playground to explore. :) 

Simon swam backstroke and forgot to use his arms. It was a little disappointing because he had looked SO good in practice yesterday morning... arms and legs... the whole deal! When I asked him about it after the race, he said he can't use his arms once he bumps into the lane line because he can't get his butt and legs back up. LOL. So we'll have to work on that.  ;)  He gets out there and does it though. No fear. He's so brave!

Speaking of brave, after Simon were 6U's and a little girl from school swam backstroke for the first time. She would go two strokes and stop. Two strokes and stop. The other team sent a teen swimmer to jump in the pool and assist but our coach yelled at her at the top of his lungs! "NO!!! Get OUT of the pool!! These are MY kids!" The poor older girl was so confused....  after that, the coach encouraged and coached little Anna all the way across that lane all by herself, two strokes at a time. It took a full five minutes to get her to the other end,  but it was quite an amazing thing to watch and I know every mom in the place had tears in their eyes.  I totally get why he didn't want the older girl in there with her and I love that he is so protective of "his" swimmers.  It's one of the things I love about our swim team...  on a bigger team, that kid wouldn't even be allowed to be ON the team yet.... but on ours they can all do it, no matter how well they swim and they learn as they go! That little girl will have the pride of knowing she did it by herself.... and also will now even get a ribbon because she did not have an assistant in the water. :) (I believe if they have someone in the pool with them and they don't qualify for any ribbons or points) 

Anyway.... next up was Ben's butterfly. I REALLY thought this was his night because of the short pool. I told him to give it everything he had and not hold back. But, alas... he didn't get a very good dive start and started off behind. He finished 4th of 6 again. Came over to us afterward and burst into tears. I've never seen him want something so badly.... but he has GOT to get that start down if he is ever going to have a chance.  He was in freestyle relay as the last event and did great in that. He said those are easy because there is no pressure. ARGH! 

Two more meets to go... and then the championship. Ben is nervous there are starting blocks.... and I think there might be.... playing that down for now. :\  Simon won't be doing that one... he's not quite ready for it yet. ;) (truth be told, Ben isn't really either... he'' probably get crushed... but he has a chance at a trophy and a medal since they give them up through 10th place and medals for relays up to fifth place. I've heard it's a fun meet... so I think it will be a good experience for him for sure! Plus it will give him a taste of what a much bigger meet is like... if he were to do winter swimming at some point or swim for whatever high school he goes to)

Here's some video from last night. Not sure what order the clips ended up in... but it's Ben's freestyle, fly, and relay... and Simon's freestyle. Ben is in lane two (second from left) for freestyle and lane four (second from right) for the other two. Simon is in lane 2 for his. :)