Over and Past

       Matt holding up his state swimming shirt for Guerin.  It's now past history...state swimming finals for 2009 are over.   

      How did Matt do?  Well, he did a fantastic job.  He finished 13th (out of 32) in each swim, the 200 Freestyle (pictured at right, Matt in white cap, lane 7) and the 100 Backstroke. 

      He was happy with that...thinks one can always do better, but for a sophomore, with two more years to swim state, he is feeling very good about his two finishes in finals.   

      He was very happy just to even make the finals actually.  Last year he made state in one swim only, the 100 Backstroke, but he did not have a good enough time to come back for finals on Saturday.  (Finals are the top 16 swimmers in each event.)  So this year, he had times good enough to come back on Saturday's finals in both swims...that meant a lot to him to be able to do that.   

      All on his own (with no relay or anything), he scored 8 points for his school, so Guerin ended up in 43rd place (there are 406 member schools in Indiana as swimming is a one-class sport here, not all of them, obviously, represented at state, etc., but still Guerin didn't do too badly as there were teams at state that finished below that score).  (Pictured at right are Matt, Coach Roch, and Coach B, the Athletic Director at Guerin, who once again, came to both sessions to watch and support Matt swimming.  Very nice of him.) 

      The BIG NEWS is that the CHS boys finished SECOND at State and they all get these fancy rings and bragging rights!  We are so excited for them!  Congrats to all the CHS guys...well done, well deserved!  We are very proud of all of you! 

      We are very proud of the The Boy also...it is very exciting to watch him swim and do so well in something he loves.  Here are a few photos that I managed to get with all the distractions going on:  one of Mike mounting the podium for his Championship Finals finish,   one of Matt and JJ getting ready for the 100 Backstroke, they had the lanes next to each other,     one of Harrison gathering up all his gear after his 50 Free swim, not all he had hoped for, but he did a wonderful job, and a photo of Jay (courtesy of Buddy) with his Go Harry shirt on. 

      We all had a great time being together and watching and cheering for all the kids. 

      What's next?  USA swimming continues...the swimmers are all reunited in their CSC team now with Chris P at the helm, and upcoming events were USA Time Trials today, USA Divisionals next weekend, USA State, and USA Sectionals, all before the end of the month.  And, so it goes with meets and championship meets from now until the end of summer, where in August, he hopes to be in Washington State at the Junior National Championships.   It never stops...but, it's been a very good thing for all of us. 

      Oh, and there are the NCAA playoffs this month, etc.  March Madness is truly March Madness around our house...in swimming and basketball watching! 

      One last photo from yesterday, again courtesy of Buddy, a photo of Laurie and Ali at the meet:  Ali had studying to do!  Laurie and I sat beside each other and had a great time chatting throughout the meet.  She even brought her knitting.