Saturday, etc...
Well, this post is going to be mainly about Saturday, which was another amazing day. We had a meet at Colby-Sawyer College against Hollis-Brookline, Goffstown, Kearsarge, John Stark, and Stevens that started at 11:00 AM. This meant we had to be at the school at 7:30 AM for the bus to go to Colby-Sawyer, so I had to get up at 6:30 AM and drive to the school. We had a good bus ride over, good time to get pumped up for a meet. We got there kind of early, which isn't a bad thing, because it gave us plenty of time to look around and check the place out. It is a beautiful pool, I am extremely jealous. Fratea, Baumgartner, Martineau, and I found out there was a small room in the locker room that said AWAY TEAM on the door, so we decided to take it over. That was kind of cool, because we got our privacy, the whole room to ourselves. When we went out on deck we were all pretty amazed, because it really is an awesome pool. The two parts that impressed me the most were that there was natural lighting from windows around the pool, and the ventilation system. The atmosphere felt so much healthier and more pleasant than what we're used to at Keene State. Don't get me wrong I'm not going to complain about Keene State's pool, it's definitely still one of the nicer ones I've seen for a High School team, but this pool was absolutely gorgeous. So that was a positive sign to begin with, because you always seem to do better in the nicer pools. We had plenty of room on deck which was also very nice. Before the meet stared, Baumgartner and I came up with a new cheer, which is pretty hilarious.
Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the lane,
Don't forget to flip your turn,
Or we'll yell out our name:
MONADNOCK!
Warm-ups went pretty well, I was feeling good about the pool, and I was feeling good about my swimming. It's weird, I can generally tell in warm-ups whether I'm going to have a good meet, so I was pretty happy that I felt good. The blocks are really nice too, higher than what we're used to, even though that can cause some adjustment issues. The one thing that worried me was that the Backstroke start bar was awfully high, and caused you to place your feet on the very slipper metal lip to the gutter. I asked the FR what she thought about his and she suggested placing my hands on the gutter instead of the bar. I thought this sounded like a good idea and I used it.
My first event was the 200 Yard Medley Relay, as usual, with me leading off with Backstroke. The difference this time, though, was that we didn't have Nick Hall, so Fratea was going to do the Butterfly leg, and Tommila was doing the Freestyle leg for us. We did pretty well even without Nick. Our time was a 2:03.24, which I was pretty happy with. I felt kind of bad for Tommila, though, because he's only a Freshman, and he kind of felt like he needed to fill Nick's shoes. That would have been difficult to do, so I was pretty impressed with what he did, and I hope he realizes that he did a pretty decent job. My next event wasn't for awhile, but Baumgartner swam the 200 Yard Freestyle and qualified for States in it, and Fratea swam the 200 Yard IM and qualified in that. After awhile we got to the 100 Yard Butterfly, which was what I was swimming, even though I had never swum it before in competition. I felt pretty prepared for it, though, and I had a good feeling about it. I went out hard, and my stroke broke down a little towards the end, but it felt good the whole way. I needed to go 1:12.99 to qualify for States and I went 1:10.98. Not too bad considering it's not my stroke. I did, however, feel really bad for Martineau, because he had gone a 1:13 earlier this season, so he definitely had hopes of qualifying this meet, but instead he added like 5 seconds. Then I only had a short time to prepare for the 500 Yard Freestyle. Luckily I didn't feel too tired after the Butterfly, because I knew I'd need a lot of energy for the 500. The last time I had swum the 500 was at the first meet of the season, when I went somewhere around a 6:45. The State cut time is 6:18.99, so I had an awful lot of time to drop. But I didn't see it as an impossibility, so I asked the FR to be my counter, and I asked her to stay on top of me and make me qualify, because I was pretty sure I could do it after the huge drop I'd made in the 200 Freestyle at the last meet. It felt awfully good, and as soon as I hit the wall I asked the timers how I'd done. The replied that I'd gone a 6:16.17. I was so excited, I couldn't even believe that I had done it, that I had dropped about half of a minute. I had lapped a couple of the other swimmers so I had time to just tread water and loosen up a little bit. While I was doing this, Kierstin, who was waiting behind the blocks for the next event asked me how I had done, and I told her that I'd qualified. I think she was pretty amazed, because all she pretty much told me that she hated me and that I make her sick, haha. No, everyone was wicked excited for me, and I really appreciate all of the support I've gotten from the team this year. The team is great, seriously. My final event of the meet was the 400 Yard Freestyle Relay. Motts had split up the relays in a rather interesting manner, since we didn't have Nick, so I wasn't with any of the typical A team. I was the lead-off leg, and I went out with a split somewhere around a minute, completely blowing everyone else away and giving my relay team a huge lead to work with. They did really well and held onto the lead against all but one of the other teams. I was really happy.
It was a great meet, and I still can't believe how well I did, just how much I've improved this year, it's incredible. As we were walking out to the bus, Motts came over to us and showed us the results. As if the day could get any better, we discovered that the guy's team had won the meet, beating all 5 of the teams we had faced, and that the girls' team had only lost to Hollis-Brookline. By far the best meet of the season for our team as a whole. This improved the guy's team record to 17-10, so no matter what we're guy's a better than .500 season, a winning record. We were all wicked excited with this news. We all got on the bus and proceeded to McDonald's for lunch. This didn't really excite me, because I don't really do the whole McDonald's/Burger King/Wendy's scene, but that's okay. I got a salad and a milkshake. We ate on the bus, and had a good ride home, even though we were all exhausted. Somehow on the bus, it came up that my back-windshield wiper/washer is broken, and so when you press the WASH button, it just sprays the fluid directly backward. So when we got to the school everyone wanted to see this. It was hilarious, it sprays quite a distance, and everyone was jealous. Then I drove home.
We went to the India Pavilion for dinner. I was feeling like something exotic, so that was fun. That place seriously must be close to closing, there was like nobody there. Oh well, they make good food. Then we came home and I spent much of the evening talking to Stacie. That was really good, and I'm feeling a lot better about everything, so Saturday was an amazing day all around. I had a great day.
Yesterday was Sunday, so we went to church in the morning. Then we watched football for much of the day. I called both games, the Steelers and the Seahawks both won. Then I had practice last night. We worked pretty hard, but luckily not too hard, because my body still ached, and still does ache, from the meet. Not too much else went on yesterday.
Today is a snow day, so I'm just relaxing and enjoying the day off.
Peace,
Justin
Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the lane,
Don't forget to flip your turn,
Or we'll yell out our name:
MONADNOCK!
Warm-ups went pretty well, I was feeling good about the pool, and I was feeling good about my swimming. It's weird, I can generally tell in warm-ups whether I'm going to have a good meet, so I was pretty happy that I felt good. The blocks are really nice too, higher than what we're used to, even though that can cause some adjustment issues. The one thing that worried me was that the Backstroke start bar was awfully high, and caused you to place your feet on the very slipper metal lip to the gutter. I asked the FR what she thought about his and she suggested placing my hands on the gutter instead of the bar. I thought this sounded like a good idea and I used it.
My first event was the 200 Yard Medley Relay, as usual, with me leading off with Backstroke. The difference this time, though, was that we didn't have Nick Hall, so Fratea was going to do the Butterfly leg, and Tommila was doing the Freestyle leg for us. We did pretty well even without Nick. Our time was a 2:03.24, which I was pretty happy with. I felt kind of bad for Tommila, though, because he's only a Freshman, and he kind of felt like he needed to fill Nick's shoes. That would have been difficult to do, so I was pretty impressed with what he did, and I hope he realizes that he did a pretty decent job. My next event wasn't for awhile, but Baumgartner swam the 200 Yard Freestyle and qualified for States in it, and Fratea swam the 200 Yard IM and qualified in that. After awhile we got to the 100 Yard Butterfly, which was what I was swimming, even though I had never swum it before in competition. I felt pretty prepared for it, though, and I had a good feeling about it. I went out hard, and my stroke broke down a little towards the end, but it felt good the whole way. I needed to go 1:12.99 to qualify for States and I went 1:10.98. Not too bad considering it's not my stroke. I did, however, feel really bad for Martineau, because he had gone a 1:13 earlier this season, so he definitely had hopes of qualifying this meet, but instead he added like 5 seconds. Then I only had a short time to prepare for the 500 Yard Freestyle. Luckily I didn't feel too tired after the Butterfly, because I knew I'd need a lot of energy for the 500. The last time I had swum the 500 was at the first meet of the season, when I went somewhere around a 6:45. The State cut time is 6:18.99, so I had an awful lot of time to drop. But I didn't see it as an impossibility, so I asked the FR to be my counter, and I asked her to stay on top of me and make me qualify, because I was pretty sure I could do it after the huge drop I'd made in the 200 Freestyle at the last meet. It felt awfully good, and as soon as I hit the wall I asked the timers how I'd done. The replied that I'd gone a 6:16.17. I was so excited, I couldn't even believe that I had done it, that I had dropped about half of a minute. I had lapped a couple of the other swimmers so I had time to just tread water and loosen up a little bit. While I was doing this, Kierstin, who was waiting behind the blocks for the next event asked me how I had done, and I told her that I'd qualified. I think she was pretty amazed, because all she pretty much told me that she hated me and that I make her sick, haha. No, everyone was wicked excited for me, and I really appreciate all of the support I've gotten from the team this year. The team is great, seriously. My final event of the meet was the 400 Yard Freestyle Relay. Motts had split up the relays in a rather interesting manner, since we didn't have Nick, so I wasn't with any of the typical A team. I was the lead-off leg, and I went out with a split somewhere around a minute, completely blowing everyone else away and giving my relay team a huge lead to work with. They did really well and held onto the lead against all but one of the other teams. I was really happy.
It was a great meet, and I still can't believe how well I did, just how much I've improved this year, it's incredible. As we were walking out to the bus, Motts came over to us and showed us the results. As if the day could get any better, we discovered that the guy's team had won the meet, beating all 5 of the teams we had faced, and that the girls' team had only lost to Hollis-Brookline. By far the best meet of the season for our team as a whole. This improved the guy's team record to 17-10, so no matter what we're guy's a better than .500 season, a winning record. We were all wicked excited with this news. We all got on the bus and proceeded to McDonald's for lunch. This didn't really excite me, because I don't really do the whole McDonald's/Burger King/Wendy's scene, but that's okay. I got a salad and a milkshake. We ate on the bus, and had a good ride home, even though we were all exhausted. Somehow on the bus, it came up that my back-windshield wiper/washer is broken, and so when you press the WASH button, it just sprays the fluid directly backward. So when we got to the school everyone wanted to see this. It was hilarious, it sprays quite a distance, and everyone was jealous. Then I drove home.
We went to the India Pavilion for dinner. I was feeling like something exotic, so that was fun. That place seriously must be close to closing, there was like nobody there. Oh well, they make good food. Then we came home and I spent much of the evening talking to Stacie. That was really good, and I'm feeling a lot better about everything, so Saturday was an amazing day all around. I had a great day.
Yesterday was Sunday, so we went to church in the morning. Then we watched football for much of the day. I called both games, the Steelers and the Seahawks both won. Then I had practice last night. We worked pretty hard, but luckily not too hard, because my body still ached, and still does ache, from the meet. Not too much else went on yesterday.
Today is a snow day, so I'm just relaxing and enjoying the day off.
Peace,
Justin
posted by Jw at 11:49 AM
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