Adventures at Age Group State

As most of y’all already know, now that high school swimming is over, I train with club. Club practices are so much better than high school practices because we do a lot more distance and it is intense. This past weekend, I attended the 2015 Utah Short Course Age Group Championships. This meet has three age categories: 10 and under, 11-12, and 13-14. I’m one of the youngest in my grade, and it definitely has its drawbacks. It is never fun to be the last one to get your permit or license! But, I do get to graduate at the age of 17 and swim both age group and high school concurrently!

This year, the meet was held in Bountiful, Utah. If you ask me, Bountiful ain’t an interesting place, but has some pretty good places to eat. Because during swim meets, literally all I care about is food. I ate at Five Guys, In-N-Out, Paradise Bakery and Cafe, Texas Roadhouse, and Mikado. All of the aren’t the best nutritional choices, but nutrition is not, and will never be my forte. My challenge was trying to limit my fruit snack intake, but I averaged about six packages a session. Whoops!

The pool,  even though it isn't this pretty after sweaty swimmers!
Photo Courtesy of: Myrtha Pool

The swim meet began on Wednesday and ended on Saturday. I gotta skip school, so that was legit, except all the makeup work was boring. On Wednesday, I swam the 1650 freestyle (or the mile). Last year, I went nineteen minutes exactly in both my mile at short course and long course state. But this year I went seventeen minutes and fifty seven seconds! And I swear if I would have seen eighteen minutes exactly on the scoreboard, I would have questioned the meaning of life.

On Thursday, I swam the two hundred freestyle and four hundred individual medley in both prelims and finals, along with the two hundred freestyle relay. During a prelims and finals meet, you are supposed to swim fast in the morning and even faster at night. Unfortunately, some people completely ignore this idea, and decide to bag their races in the morning. This annoys me so much, put hey, I gotta go my own way! (Please take into consideration my extreme effort to give appreciation to High School Musical).

On Friday, I swam the one hundred backstroke, one hundred freestyle, five hundred freestyle, and two hundred medley relay. Friday was a rough day (mainly night) for me, but I had to move on quickly to prepare for Saturday! On Saturday, I swam the two hundred backstroke, one thousand freestyle, and four hundred freestyle relay. I did really well in these events, which was nice since I didn’t have the best races the day before.

Elise, Me, and Rachel.

There is something about the vibe that you get at age group meets. Maybe it is because there are really cute little kids, or that everyone knows each other because we have been racing for years! This meet was filled with inside jokes, competition, and the struggles shared among girls while getting into kneeskins. I can’t wait to see what Long Course Age Group will bring!

Thank you for reading this post! Be sure to comment below on your favorite event or stroke, and I’ll see y’all soon!

XOXO

Siena

Swimming Through High School State

Last weekend, I had my very first high school state meet! Going into the competition, I really didn’t know what to expect. My coach had told me prior to the meet that it was different environment, especially since it was not prelims and finals. All high school state meets are held at Brigham Young University (BYU), and even after renovation, the pool is still hideous. But that is okay, because all you need is a lane, right? One thing is for sure, I had never felt more pressure during a race in my entire life. 

Early in the morning, we went to our pool to warmup before going down to BYU, where we would warmup yet again. Just, at BYU, it was a lot more crowded. On the first day, my only event was the 200 Freestyle. Even after I finished swimming, which wasn’t as fast as I would have liked, my hands were still trembling. I was disappointed with my results, but I realized that I needed to put that event in my past, and focus on my next three races. After two hours inside a sweaty natatorium, it was time for the most important meal, dinner. As y’all know from my previous posts, I am a food junkie, so I went to JCW’s and ordered a six (yes, you heard it right, six) piece chicken tender meal with fries and an Oreo shake. Later, I collapsed on my bed for a much needed good night sleep.

Warmup at BYU

Even earlier in the morning, we started warmup again for the second day. I felt less stressed, mainly because it gets easier after you have raced once. My events were the 500 Freestyle, 200 Freestyle Relay, and 400 Freestyle Relay. In the 500 Freestyle, I got a best time, and my team went one-two-three-four on the podium. In the 200 and 400 Freestyle Relays, everyone on my “squad” had amazing splits and we broke the 3A state records.

My Relay at Podium
Photo Courtesy of: The Salt Lake Tribune 

My 400 Freestyle Relay Squad

The girls team ended up scoring the most points in Utah high school swimming history, and both the PCHS girls and boys teams were state champions. A celebratory jump into the dive tank with all five of our coaches marked the end of this meet. On the bus ride back up to PC, we stopped at the Brick Oven for linner - a mix of both lunch and dinner - where I stuffed myself with any crumb that was within reach.

Now that high school swimming is over (yea!), I am ready to get back to club practice and those good old distance sets. For the next season, I hope to perform better by learning to keep calm before diving into the chlorine. If you would like to find out more information on this competition, the Salt Lake Tribune, Park Record, and Deseret News wrote articles, or results can be found here. 

I would like to give a shoutout to all 19 of my page-views from France and 15 page-views from India. If you guys want to be notified when I publish another post, be sure to become one of my loyal followers :). Later this week, I will be talking ‘bout senior state, so please stay tuned!

XOXO

Siena