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!

SARG Ice Breaker - day 2

Rachel started the day off with a bang...cutting a huge chunk off her 100 IM (swimming it in 1:35.97, which was a B time and within about three seconds of the BB time) and winning her heat! She added about 1 second on her 100 back and 4 1/2 seconds on her 50 fly, but she was conserving her energy for the 50 free. She swam the 50 free in 36.82 seconds...which was a divisional cut! It was also less than a second from the BB time, and she won her heat! Rachel came in 10th today in the 100 IM (which should get her a ribbon) and 14th for the 50 free. For the meet as a whole, she cut time in 6 of her 8 events, won three heats on individual events and one for the relay yesterday, made two more B times, and got the divisional cut (which was the last remaining goal we had set to accomplish this season.) Overall, I'd say this was THE meet of her season so far! Way to go, Rachel. You have put in a lot of work, started to really race when you race, and made some sacrifices that have hopefully been worth it. Now go get that divisional time in the 100 free!

Southridge Ice Breaker Day 1

An amazing day today! Rachel said at the beginning of the meet, "I'm going to win every race!" Well, she didn't do that, exactly, but she did shell out some amazing (for her) swims. Her first race was the 100 Freestyle. Her seed time was only .5 of a second from a B time...and she wanted it! She won her heat, and took off 7 1/2 seconds! Her time was 1:31.77; she swam it in 1:24:15. She is now only 2 seconds away from the divisional time in the 100 free! She came in 15th out of 42. Then came the 50 Backstroke. She cut off .23 of a second (Her time is now 47.56). Next was the 50 breast stroke, in which she cut another .59 of a second and swam it in 56.14. Her last individual event was the 100 butterfly. She led all the way until the very end, and was out-touched by another swimmer. She made another small cut of .29 second, down to 1:51.68. She placed 14th out of 20 (The 100 fly usually doesn't have a lot of takers at this age!) Then, the swim that stands out as the most exciting...Rachel was substituted onto the 200 Medley relay B team due to a couple of swimmers from the team not being there. They put her as the anchor, swimming the freestyle leg of the medley. She started out her swim being a fair distance behind the leading team. She showed some grit and determination, and passed the leader at the end, resulting in her team winning their heat! All the parents from our team were SCREAMING at the top of their lungs...it was so exciting!!!! She swam the 50 free (according to the stopwatch of another parent) in under 36 seconds...more than a second under the divisional time! So....if she can do that again tomorrow...we will be heading to Columbus IN in March! (Lord willing.) Stay tuned.... : - )

JAWS Medal Fest Day 2

Rachel did get a medal for the butterfly. She also cut a second and a half on the 100 breast (now 2:07) and cut 4 seconds off her 50 back and got her B time (47.79)! She added a slight fraction of a second on her 50 butterfly and nearly won her heat, but one of her teammates edged her out at the end! She added quite a bit of time (9 seconds) on her 100 free, but that's ok. That happens once in awhile, and you just deal with it and move on. Overall, I would say it was a successful meet for my favorite swimmer!

JAWS Medal fest day 1

Wow...what a day! Rachel has not done much swimming in almost two weeks because of holidays and being out of town, and she was stuck in the car all day yesterday while we came back from South Carolina, so I didn't have any idea of what to expect out of her swimming today. But Rachel and I agreed ahead of time that if she swam well, it would be only from the Lord being with her and we would give him the credit! So....we started out with the 100 backstroke. She cut 14 seconds off her time (2:00 down to 1:46) and just barely missed the B time! Next came the 50 breast stroke. She cut 9 seconds (1:05 to :56) and won her heat! By now, I was getting a little excited that perhaps the 50 free divisional time that has been eluding her would finally be in her grasp! Next up was the 100 butterfly. She started out looking pretty good, but was obviously tired for the last 50. She added about 9 seconds to her time...but still came in 15th place. This meet is pretty special in that they give out medals down to 16th place (I think that is how it works) so Rachel will be getting her very first individual medal! She was VERY excited about that! Finally, the event that we had drove all the way back in one day for...the 50 free. Rachel and I were initially hoping that she might get a medal for this event...but once I saw the competition she was up against, I knew that there wasn't much likelihood of her accomplishing that. But the divisional time was still very achievable (as mentioned from the last post, we know that she has it in her to do this...she did it in the relay). So....she dove in....and added a split second to her time. She was disappointed, of course, but she got over it quickly, especially because right after that event is when she found out that she had gotten the medal in the 100 fly. So, we'll thank God for her good swims today and look forward to tomorrow!