How I feel now.

There is a joke out there that says, "if i had one dying wish I would wish to go to a swim meet because they take forever" and they do they totally do. Swim meets aren't just swimming your best and getting a new best time and all of that. Swim meets are a time for you to show what you are made of to other teams and other team mates. They are a time when you get to show your coach and your parents if what they have been providing to you has really done anything or if it was just a waste of time.

No matter the meet I always try my best. Sometimes its not good enough but I am trying my best all the same. I really have expectations when I go into most of my races. I like to do good, sure, but I don't like setting a goal or and time that I have to reach right before I swim because if you don't make it you just feel bad about yourself. That is why at big meets you can really see this about me. I am not exited for my races, I am not really until 15 minutes before and I definitely Don't want to be there.

But when that 15 minute mark comes... be ready. I have given 14 hours per every week in the pool and even more outside training for this moment when I get to show you what I am really made of. I don't expect much out of my swims because I already have people doing that for me. I don't mean I pay them or tell them to do it. They are the people who train me, raise me, and help me everyday to see what I can really put myself into.

To those people to doubt, I am really whenever you are to gear up and race. I will stand fast and try as hard as I can whenever I can.

The State of Park City High School

Just like I said in my previous post we really brought the pain. The girls just like at regions, won every event and every relay with no question. In some events they even brought up the top three places, and that in not an easy feat. Three swimmers from the same team beating every single other 3A team in Utah. As a whole the girls team won with no competition. There was absolutely no other team within 300 points of them. I don't believe anyone in Utah has ever pulled that off before and we are pretty proud of it to.

Photo courtesy of Deseret News

The boys did absolutely amazing as well. Last year we won with eight guys by maybe ten points. This year we won by over 200 points with around 13 boys. That is ridiculous, that a team could be trained to such a great level in just a few months by a few coaches who really have it down. Our main coach won both 3A state girls and boys coach of the year. Two of our swimmers won individual state awards. But thats not all, we also broke six state records which some haven't moved since 2006.
Just as a team we broke almost all of the girls records and we broke three records on the boys side. It was really amazing breaking the team records from the 1990s finally in my freshman year. I did not personally break them but I did get second to the guy who did. Jinwan Bailar to truly a force not to be reckoned with. He will be going to nationals in a few weeks and give the best of luck to furthering his swimming career.
I personally swam four events which you can see the entire results in the app I recommended in my last post. The first day I only had the 200 medley relay which we won. Then, one the second day I had the 100 back first which was the event Jinwan beat me in. Second, I had the 500 free which I also got second in, that was on of the events we did not win. Last, I had the 400 free relay which we also ended up winning.

How we roll at regions

A few years ago there was no way our team would have known they would win regions but now... its different. Now we have the best team in the state and there is nothing anyone can do to stop us. We won out of the 3A schools on both sides by at least a hundred points. All of our swimmers did terrifically and I personally couldn't have wished for a better team my freshman year. I believe our girls won all of their events and all relays. Which is great, last year we would've had loads of competition but the girls didn't even have to look back to know how far ahead they were. It was honestly so much fun watching them have their own fun and being a part of their training.

Photo courtesy of vancouversun.com 

The boys did awesome too. We won all the relays and we lost in one event which was totally fine cause we had nobody who really specialized in it. Even though we wished we had won all of the events we were kind of feeling bad because the other teams weren't getting any closer though out the meet to winning anything. But its alright they tried their best and get best times at that. I really to give congrats out to the swimmings of both of those teams.
We all raced our hardest and I personally did pretty well, we of course won our relays and I got first in the 200 free and second and the 500 free. If you want to see all of our swims you can get the free app Meet Mobile which has detailed scores on how everyone did. But don't be fooled we are just getting started with our achievements. I believe next week at state we will be able to bring the pain and get out there and race.

Leading up to Hight School State

The weeks before a big meet are the hardest part of a season. Everyone gets sick and everyone is sore. Usually grades drop and there is nothing we can really do to study harder. It is honestly the worst part of the season and there is nothing that you can do to change that. But you can just keep going and eventually you stop feeling a lot of the pain.

Picture courtesy of imarcade.com 

Some of us actually really like this time of the year though. Sure the homework isn't fun but being sore and sick can sometimes be really fun if it also leads up to a really good meet after. This whole thing is put up by our coaches by giving us less yards but making the faster. Its so super hard in the higher groups as we sprint for the last 30 minutes of practice. I can not think of one time where anyone truly said they liked the sets but there are good and bad days. It all just depends on if you are able to sprint everyday for an entire two weeks. In this process your immune system completely shuts down with no point of return until after the meet. Your body changes from staying healthy to making sure you can still walk.
This would sound like a nightmare for most people. They would never want to even get in the water if they knew they wouldn't feel good later. But for us we don't know what we would do without it. This time in the season is but a short bit out of the greatness in the year and we would not miss it for the world.
Of the entire season this would usually be the most expected time for people to drop out but its exactly the opposite if you don't come to even one practice it means you can't take the heat, and no one wants to have other people think they can't do what everyone else is doing. The beginning of the entire year is actually the time when people drop out the most because they don't know what swimming can do for you yet.

High School Season? More like Fun Season!

For the past seven years I have had to sit and watch my brother and sister go through the Park City High School Swimming seasons and have loads of fun, without me of course. But then, this year, my time finally day in the sun finally arrived. The first day was a blast and we hadn't even started practice yet. The people are so cool and their all very committed to what ever they have planned. I have been on the age group team for nine years now and don't get me wrong it is great, just there's something about being with older kids that makes you feel happy. The practices are pretty easy so far but I know from watching for many years that they will get much harder very fast.

Its so much fun swimming with all the kids I have seen go right though the age group program and now actually be able to spend time with them. I can tell out team is going to be a close group, even though we compete every day to see who you can beat to the other side of the pool. I finally get to be with the Miners. I just can't say it enough how cool it is to be a member of this special team where everybody has a chance to earn their varsity letter no matter who reaches the wall first!