The guys at Junior Nationals Short Course after their 200 Freestyle Relay which placed 20th overall...no one saw that coming as they weren't even on the radar. Harrison, Matt, Nik, Mike all swam it, and the last guy in the line is JJ, who is now off at college at OSU and on their swim team, hanging with his swim pals from home.
There are no slow swimmers at Nationals. In order to go to Nationals, you have to be fast. The competition there is amazing and a great way for our swimmers to compete against the best of the best of the best! All in all, here's how we did on our first year at Short Course Junior Nationals:
Matt's Relays: 200 Freestyle, seeded 35th, finished 20th out of 38; 200 IM, seeded 35th, finished 19th out of 39; 400 Freestyle, seeded 24, finished 23rd out of 39; 800 Freestyle, seeded 29th, finished 18th out of 30.
Matt's Individual swims: 50 Freestyle, seeded 126th, finished 63rd out of 154; 100 Backstroke, seeded 105, finished 106 out of 135; 100 Freestyle, seeded 125, finished 97th out of 140. This is not bad for a first year qualifier.
The swimmers happily all returned safely, albeit tired, late Saturday night. Matt had a very nice swim meet, with new best times, the thrills of competing and winning, the excitement of being at Nationals swimming with the best swimmers in the nation, the fun of being with good friends having good times outside the pool as well as inside, and a new appreciation for his sport. He was one extremely happy boy.
Matt leading off the 200 Freestyle Relay (he got a new best time because the first person gets to keep their swim time in a relay and it was the fastest he has ever gone in that race), Harrison, Nik, and Mike (with back turned) are lined up, second starting block with black caps with a blue C on them.
Matt leading off the 200 Freestyle Relay (he got a new best time because the first person gets to keep their swim time in a relay and it was the fastest he has ever gone in that race), Harrison, Nik, and Mike (with back turned) are lined up, second starting block with black caps with a blue C on them.
I have to say, it was really different with him gone for four days as we had leftovers the whole time he was gone! Food consumption was way down, and we missed him a lot. Sunday he was back to his regular routine of studying, IYC choir rehearsal, serving Mass, and a Knights' meeting, followed by more studying as finals are this week.
He was thrilled to hear that he had been selected for the duet for the Christmas concert, Angels Sing, for his choir. This is a major deal as the choir performs the Christmas concert three times to sold-out audiences, and it is also recorded for airing on our local television station in Indianapolis for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. He loves that choir and all that singing. There have been weekends when he swims the morning session at a swim meet, sings in a concert in the afternoon, and goes back for finals at night to swim...two days in a row. It's not every swim team who has a swimmer entering in swim duds and exiting in a tuxedo, returning in said tuxedo, and changing into a Speedo. It's a lot easier when it is an evening concert with no swim finals, therefore no evening swim sessions. Life is always interesting with Matt around, he is always on the move going from one thing to the next. It's good to have him back. I can tell right now that I am not going to do "empty nest" well at all.