Swimming season is coming to an end; first up, Districts… next up, State. Saturday was District Time. Let’s go!
My son has been doing very well in the swim meets this year, winning a heat(s) almost every time. It’s been fun. Coming off a great basketball year, where maybe it’s time to ramp up basketball, he goes and does this in the pool. It was a bit surprising. Don’t get me wrong: he’s an awesome swimmer. It’s just, that at 11 years old, he’s in the lower end of this 12U bracket. He’s competing against mostly 12 year olds; it hadn’t mattered thus far. He qualified for districts in every single event he swims. The stage was set for Saturday afternoon.
When I looked at the heat sheets, I saw this would be a tough one for him. His times were good enough in each of his events to be placed in the final heat. In case you don’t know, the final heat is for the fastest 8-10 swimmers in that event in that age group. Safe to say, most of the kids in this final heat were 12 years old. It would be very tough to win an individual heat based on this. He came in anywhere from the 4th best to 8th best times; he’d have to make a big jump. If his times were a bit slower, he would have been placed in the 2nd to last heat, where his chances to win would increase dramatically. Still, that makes no sense. You want to swim as fast as you can. You want a challenge. He got a challenge.
He didn’t win any of his individual heats; this was predictable. In freestyle, he finished 7th, turning in a slightly slower time than his best. In backstroke, he finished 4th, turning in a slightly slower time than his best. In breast stroke, he finished 5th, beating his time by a second. In each case, there was only one other 11 year old that finished better than him; this bodes well for next year. For this event, he seemed a little bummed. His relay teams did come in 2nd and 3rd, so that was good. Still, considering everything, there was no reason for him to be bummed. His face certainly changed when he came home with the medals for 4 of the 5 events he swam in; add it to the trophy case!
Up next is State. The cut times for this event are much harder to make than district; he didn’t make any of the individual cuts. However, he will be swimming in 2 relays, which is great; he’ll get to be there again, and hopefully get on the medal stand. He’ll be doing the backstroke in the 200M medley, and freestyle in the 200M freestyle relay. That will bring the swimming season to an end, until the summer. He’ll be setup for a great year next year as a 12 year old competing in the 12U bracket. Love seeing him swim. Congrats boy!
Leave a Reply