It is that time of year again - swim meets! All swim meets begin with warm-ups. Warm-ups usually start at 6:30 a.m. So while the kids are swimming, I'm drinking as much coffee as I can to wake-up.
Andrew (black goggles) and Mark are getting ready to start back the other direction ...and wondering why their mom is taking a picture of them in warm-ups! Actually, I'm wondering the same thing because I should be drinking coffee to wake-up!
After warm-ups, it is time to wait for the first race to begin. The best part about waiting for races...SNACKS!
The first event is a Medley relay. Mark is contemplating the meaning of swimming...or more likely thinking about the candy at the concession stand.
Andrew is getting ready to push off as soon as his teammate touches the wall. Andrew is the anchor of the team. Such pressure!
Next up is Emily's relay team in the 3rd and final heat. Emily's team is in lane 1 (out of 8). Since the fastest teams are in lanes 3 and 4, Emily's team needs to race hard to win.
Emily is in the water ready to go. She is thinking about how she is going to make the other teams eat her bubbles.
And she is off.
She is swimming the 3rd leg - the breast stroke. Their team ended up placing 4th out of 8th - a great team effort.
Emily is getting ready to dive in for her 100 freestyle individual event.
Emily is swimming strong - she is pulling ahead of the swimmer from Aberdeen in the first 50 lap.
But the second 50 lap is harder - the swimmer from Aberdeen is pulling ahead.
Emily ended up placing 2nd in the heat - and cutting almost 5 seconds from her time in the 100 free event from last week. I need to get better at taking pictures of the finishes. It is too hard to cheer (aka yell "Go Emily" until my voice is hoarse) and take pictures at the same time. The funny thing about cheering for swimmers is that the kids tell me they can't hear me when they are in the water...but it does make me feel better to cheer for them (and I fit in with the other screaming moms!)
The next swim meet is this weekend in Brookings. State times are within reach of all three kids. And if Mark or Andrew gets a state time, Dan has promised them a puppy. So, send good luck to the boys this weekend!
