I have decided to just update the blog with highlights when they occur, rather than a "play by play" of every meet. Rachel swam Friday and today in Vincennes. It was really hot this weekend, and the water was very hot also, so there was a lot of time being added by lots of kids. Glad Rachel wasn't the only one adding time! She did have one awesome swim, though. She had not swum the 100 free (LCM) since last summer, so I knew that she was going to cut a lot of time. I was hoping for a time of 1:38. Her split from the 200 a few weeks ago was 1:45. She swam it in 1:35.14, which is about 9 seconds from a B time (11-12 girls), and she won her heat! Her freestyle stroke looked so much better today than it has this whole season...she's finally getting back in the groove! And even though breast stroke is her favorite, I'd have to say that at least right now, freestyle is her best.

Dual meet with MTV

Well, Rachel had her first meet of the season three days ago. It was a very small dual meet, with only 6 girls scheduled to swim in both of her events. Even though this is "long course season", this meet was a short course yard meet, so we were able to compare her times directly to last season. It was her first meet swimming in the 11-12 age group! She added about 4 seconds on her 50 free, but I think she has changed her stroke from what she was using at the end of last season. We'll need to confer with the coach! She swam the 50 breast at just about the same as her best time. Next meet is Jasper, in a 50 meter pool!

Start of long course season 2009

Well, swimming starts back up for Rachel in 2 days. I am really excited about who her coach is going to be! Her primary coach last season (Lyndsay) was really good and understood Rachel pretty well, and Coach Marti is excellent, too. From looking at the schedule, it appears that Rachel will have practice 5 days most weeks instead of 4. And I'm sure the practices will be more intense! We'll see how it goes....

Southern Indiana Divisional Championship

We went to divisionals this past weekend, and Rachel swam the 100 free Sat. and the 50 free Sun. She added some time on the 100 free and took off 1 1/2 seconds on the 50, which gave her a BB time! (Her first one.) She "ages up" next weekend, and she'll have to earn her B/BB's again, but I have confidence she will do it!

Conference championship

Rachel had another good meet, but didn't make any of the divisional cuts she was going for. She cut time in 5 of her 7 events, making the B time in 4 of them, and cutting a total of 61 seconds! In the 200 IM, she cut 22 seconds and placed 14th. She came in 16th in the 100 backstroke and won her heat. She placed 10th in the 50 backstroke and 12th in the 50 freestyle. They gave medals down to 6th place even in the relays, so she got 2 medals for her relay team's 5th place finishes along with the 4 ribbons she earned for her individual finishes. One more week until divisionals!

Time Trials

This meet is different from any others because you are only competing against your own time, and you can swim up to five times - including the same event five times if you want to. Rachel was determined she was going to get the divisional time in the 100 freestyle, and all she needed to cut was 2.6 seconds. She swam it the first time, and cut time, but not enough. She swam it a second time and came to within .15 seconds of the divisional time! She swam it the third time and just barely made it! She needed 122.09, and she swam it in 122.03. So now she has two divisional times! Yay! She tried for it one time in the 50 backstroke but added a little time, and we decided to call it a day. She was one tired little puppy once we got home, but a happy, tired puppy!

Dual meet at Jasper

Each swimmer could only swim 2 events at this one day meet, so we picked the 100 free and the 50 back. Rachel's timing was off on most of her flip turns, especially the one for the backstroke, but she still ended up cutting about .6 second. If she had gotten a good push off the wall, it probably would have been more like 1.5 seconds, but that's ok....it's still a cut! We have had numerous problems this year with her goggles coming loose when she dives in, and we thought we had worked out a fool-proof solution....goggles on first, then cap over the top. Well, we never took into consideration that perhaps her goggles are what helps hold the cap in place! On her 100 free, we saw the error in our ways. She completes the first 50 in decent time, then....her swimcap floats off! She had hair going everywhere! Needless to say, she didn't take off the 2 seconds she needed to make that divisional cut. We decided next time we will try to remember 1. swim cap - 2. goggles over cap - 3. another swim cap over goggles. We may get a system that works eventually...hopefully before divisionals!