After high school swimming ends, USA swimming still has a month to go with state and then sectionals for the swimmers who have the times to qualify for those meets before it switches over to long course training for the summer. State is a little easier to qualify for than sectionals as the sectionals lead to junior nationals, hopefully, for the swimmers who can advance with their times. Matt already has junior national times in the 100 and 200 Freestyle and the 100 Backstroke, so he is swimming with the hopes of getting a junior national cut time in the 50 Freestyle also. We shall see.
The USA state meet was one of just getting back in the water to competitively swim some of the swims that went by the wayside during the high school season, i.e. in high school one just gets to swim 2 events, so Matt's concentration was on the 100 Freestyle (he placed third in that in high school state) and the 200 Freestyle (he placed first in that). He also swims the backstroke, so he was entered in that and the 50 Free, the 200 IM, and the 100 Butterfly (which he and his coach agreed was not a stellar performance so although he made finals for that, he decided to scratch).
The Wall at meets is always a gathering place for the swimmers, checking their times, their placings, their competition, etc. It also includes the various time standards for the high powered meets, so the guys are always checking those times against their own times to see what they qualify for...I can tell by the way Matt is pointing in this photo that he is checking out the National times at the very top. The dream.
Harrison has always been slightly smaller and slightly less in stature than Matt, but this year the growth spurt has evened them out! We've known Harrison since the first grade, so as I look at them standing together, my heart sort of seizes up remembering all the years between then and now and knowing that sooner than I can imagine, they will head off to different colleges, swim for different teams, etc. Like Scarlet, "I'll think about that tomorrow."
Some kicking back time up in the stands having a drink and checking out the psych sheets...you can tell this is a more relaxed meet as the boys are kicking back in the stands and not down on deck focusing and gearing up for serious swims. They have their junior national cuts, so now they can relax a bit more.
Matt, Harrison, Jack, and Charles down on deck posing for a shot for the blog...the swimmers like to see themselves here on the blog, so I try to get shots that are usable, i.e. wearing the longer swim trunks and not the tiny little Speedos.
With the re-entry into USA swimming, comes re-entry into swimming with the college kids, etc. High school swimming is just that, high school aged swimmers. USA is different in that once you hit age 15, you swim with all the swimmers over the age of 15, meaning a lot of college kids. Even then, Matt pretty much holds his own, so after four months of not swimming the 100 backstroke much, he still placed 5th and Harrison still placed 8th.
1st and 2nd places went to Purdue college kids, 3rd and 4th went to the same old contenders that Matt has faced in that swim since early on ever since he has been swimming USA since he was seven years old, so no real surprises there.
The swimmers have all known each other for all these years, so it is fun for them to get to state and compete with each other each year.
When it comes to relay swimming, it is difficult to beat a CSC relay team.
CSC had two relay teams, placing 1st (Nick, Daniel, Jonathan, and Matt) and 3rd (Mike, Kiernan, Harrison, and Charles). The winning team supplies the person handing out the awards, so for our team, it was Roch for this race, always nice to have Roch around.
Matt tied for 7th in the 50 Free, and for the life of me, I cannot remember how he placed in the 200 IM, not one of his usual swims. It was good to be back as a USA team with Daniel and Harrison being able to swim on the team again now that the high school season has ended.