They Celebrated

State swimming wrap-up.  At State, after each of the swims there is a little break where the swimmers in that heat get to swim a victory lap before they assemble everyone on the podium for awards, medals, and photos.  (Photo is Matt's victory lap after his 200 Freestyle, that smile says it all!) 
I know that I have talked about this before, but the friendships made through swimming are a wonderful thing.  The swimmers who swim on Matt's USA team are the elite swimmers on the high school team as that is just the way it goes, a good swimmer who does not swim USA club cannot possibly hold his own in the high school realm against those who all swim high school and USA club...that year 'round training makes the swimmers ready to compete at the highest levels.  Most of the CSC USA club swimmers go to Carmel High School, but there are a few who attend private schools, like Matt did with Guerin the previous two years, and Daniel does with Park Tudor, Harrison and Ali at Brebeuf, etc. 

 

This year Daniel was the only swimmer from his high school team to qualify for state, so the CHS swimmers just sort of incorporated Daniel into their space, warming up in the pool, etc., as after all, Daniel was "one of them" no matter what high school he went to, just like they did for Matt when he was at Guerin.  When it came time at the end for the celebratory podium jump into the water for a victory swim, the CHS swimmers all urged Daniel to get up on the podium with them and swim as well.  Daniel had second and third place finishes in his swims (no relay swims as he was the only qualifier from his team), which was fantastic and the boys wanted him to jump with them in celebration.  Daniel, bless his heart, stood on the podium at the very end, shown in the photo above, (the podium shows seniors at the top, followed by juniors, etc. down to the end), but the swimmers all encouraged Daniel to get up to the top with the rest of the seniors and the photo shows Matt motioning and urging Daniel to come up higher to be with the seniors, the same seniors Daniel swims with in the CSC USA team. 
It was heartwarming and special that in all the chaos of the win, others were not forgotten.  Daniel moved up, took his place with the seniors and jumped with glee.  It was one of those moments that made the day that much more special.
(Photo:  The Jump into the diving well at the pool...freshman, sophomores, juniors, seniors, coaches...in that order...everyone in!)

  

Afterward there was a party to celebrate with lots of pasta and a cake or two.  

 

The guys were all in great spirits, the coached talked about the day, the year, the swimmers, and the future. 

 

The seniors talked and then the juniors spoke of the commitment to bring home another trophy next year.
(Photo:  The Juniors now in charge:  Mike, John, Sean, Fillipo, Kiernan, Cameron, Matt, and Tyler.) 

 

(Photo:  Matt and his head coach for high school as well as his CSC USA team, Chris.  I think Chris still has an inch or so on him, but there will come the day, that Matt will catch up in height.)  

 

 

And did I get a photo of my son with the trophy?  Somehow he and Nik scooted out of there on their way to Stephanie's post-post-state party before I could suggest such a thing, but fortunately, Mike was still available and happy to pose with the trophy he had a big hand in winning for the team. 

 

A final photo of the guys just kicking back and having a good time excited for their high school season to have such a great ending and ready to move on to the nationals with their USA state and sectionals competitions coming up in the next couple of weeks.  And who will their opponents be?  All the same kids they battled at high school state in the finals.  After 11 years of swimming with all these same swimmers in Indiana, it's just as much fun for the parents to go and watch those swimmers and see their accomplishments as it is our own team.  Well, maybe we cheer a little harder for our own team, but it is exciting to see Kyle breaking all the records and whether or not Matt can finally beat Kevin in something...yep, pretty darn exciting all the way around. 

(Photo:  Nik, Jonathan, Matt, Mike, Kiernan)