For me, the meet was all the more significant because it was during my junior year; the improvements I make this year will determine whether and where I might swim in college. So I went into the meet hoping to show some gains in my races, though I was also nervous, fearing that I would perform poorly. Over the course of the meet, I competed in the 500, 200, 100, and 50 freestyles, the 200 and 100 backstroke, and the 200 individual medley, all spread out over the three days with prelims and finals for each event.
Apart from being exhausted, by the end of the weekend I was pleased with my performance. I had swum personal bests in most of my events and had finally "broken" 50 seconds in the 100 free, swimming a time of :49.91, a goal of mine for quite some time. I was not so happy about other races; I did not go as fast as I would have liked in the 50 free or 200 IM, an event I have not significantly improved in since I was 14, but that is part of life; we win some and we lose some. Although my gains in speed were on the whole modest, they gave me optimism for where I will be at the end of the season. Now, it's back to the pool for more training in pursuit of my goals.
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| The pool during one of the prelim sessions |
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