County Championship Meet

Evie swam in the county meet earlier this month! It was an experience for all of us. It was the best of the best swimmers after a long season of early practices and tough lessons - hundreds of kids showed up to swim. These swimmers were all six and under. 

 Evie was ranked 20th in the county going into the meet for her age group which is pretty spectacular.

I am most proud of Evie for beating her personal record over and over all season long. Evie improved by leaps and bounds which is what matters most. It's always better to compete against yourself instead of others although Evie did a fabulous job with her competition too. Evie did not like moving to the faster heats but it made her work harder to beat her personal record each week. 

County championship was stressful, steaming hot and crowded. It was held late in the afternoon and started thirty minutes late due to technical problems with the timers. None of that helps out in the six and under age group. 

Evie was about a second late jumping in for her freestyle and she rolled over too soon with her backstroke. That's okay though - her time for backstroke was about a minute faster than her first meet. She finished in 33 seconds at the championship but that shoulder roll caused her from placing.  Swimming provides lots of life lessons! 

On a positive note, Carl was able to take this fabulous picture of Evie right before she jumped into the pool. I love watching the older swimmers because their form is perfect and their times are amazing. There is something special about watching these tiny swimmers prance out onto the platform and dive into the big pool without even considering the magnitude of what they are accomplishing. 

Evie came in third for relay - she loves the relay and swims with a super fast fish, Sarah. 

One of her friends from school came in 6th in the county - way to go, Faith! Evie asked me how Faith did so well. My reply was Faith has her own swimming pool, is the fourth kid in her family to swim competitively and she practiced really hard all season.Hard work pays off - sometimes it takes longer than we would like but it does happen.  Evie was proud of her friend and I am proud of Evie. 

Henry also deserves some accolades because he sat through every hot swim practice and cheered for his sister at the long meets. His sweet little voice chanting, "Go Evie" is something I hope to always remember. 

Evie won 13 ribbons this swim season including first through seventh places plus two medals. She made new friends, took risks especially using the block for the first time and spent dozens of hours in the pool. I'd call that an amazing first season. 

We are looking forward to another swim season next summer with an extra swimmer in our family.