Ben moved up to a higher age group this year, and that is always a difficult thing. You go from being in the same age group for 3 years and finishing first often to having to swim longer distances and being at the bottom of the age group. Never the less, Ben has had an amazing swim season. He has matured, and worked harder at practices than he has ever before. In fact this is the first season where he has not wanted to quit. We are very proud of him.
We knew the section meet would be a difficult one for him this year, and for the first time in four years a trip to the state meet was not a certainty. Ben swam 2 relays and 3 individual events. In his 50 butterfly he finished in 8th place. A very respectable finish, but the age difference and increased distance was evident. He placed 1st place last year at sections in his 25 butterfly. This year he added a new event to his repertoire, the individual medley. He only swam it for the second time at sections and placed 8th....very good! He placed 7th in the 100 freestyle which is a very competitive event. His freestyle has gotten fast this year.
In his medley relay, he was swimming the butterfly leg. After his team mate finished heir portion, Ben dove in and when he came out of the water, his goggles had slipped off and were hanging around his neck. It is very difficult to swim like this because you can't see, but he never missed a beat. He kept going, it was a messy swim and he was all over the lane, but he never gave up. I was SO SO proud. He was SO SO disappointed. But with some encouragement from his friends and the team he felt better. This was his winning moment of the meet in my opinion even though his relay team was disqualified.
This left only 1 more event that he could qualify for state in, his freestyle relay. This is one of the last events of the meet, and all the kids were exhausted. Ben didn't want to swim it, but he hung in there. They were a lot slower than their qualifying time, and it wasn't a great swim. BUT, they made it to state.
So off we go to the state meet again this year. For one event! Event 106 of 112 events. It will be a relaxed meet for us, but a fun one.
Swimming freestyle and butterfly at the hotel the night before the meet
Sections meet it usually 10% swimming and 90% video gaming with friends
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