EMPIRE 8 CHAMPIONSHIPS – 2/23/2011 – 2/26/2011
Here are my individual event results for the Empire 8 Championships held in Rochester, NY for my final senior year of swimming!!
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| The Stevens Swimmer Panda that KimKim got me for Secret Psych stuff! : ) |
Wednesday AM:
500 Freestyle = 5:07.99 (2nd place)
I went in seeded with a 5:09 from ECACs and dropped a little bit in the morning. I felt good and confident for the finals.
Wednesday PM:
500 Freestyle = 5:04.10 (2nd place)
Holy crap! I couldn’t believe I broke a 5:05 and went that fast! The NCAA B cut was a 5:05.36 and I totally got it by surprise! I wasn’t even aiming for it.. I just wanted to go fast. But it was a nice little surprise when I looked up at the clock and freaked out! Much thanks to Sian Pearson for boosting me up the whole way out to the swim and swimming on the lane line so I could catch a tiny draft from her. We both swam amazingly!
Thursday AM:
400 Medley Relay (100 fly) = 58.71 (8th place for the B relay)
Nice confidence booster that my fly speed was up and ready!
Thursday PM:
400 Medley Relay (100 fly) = 58.17 (17th place for the B relay)
Dropped some time from the morning! I remember putting my head down more on the last lap and really sprinting. It felt great! Our B relay got the highest place we could get for a B relay after the top 16 A teams got scored.
Fridday AM:
200 Butterfly = 2:06.61 (1st place)
At ECACs I broke down some personal barriers and got my first individual NCAA B cut for the season. So this time around when I went a 2:06.61 and went faster than I did in December, I knew I was ready and able to swim this event very well. I went out in a 31.78 and came back in a 33.55.
Since I got first in the prelims, I got to pick the walkout song for the night! California Girls by Katy Perry since Sian and I were the only Stevens swimmers in the heat!
Friday PM:
200 Butterfly = 2:06.84 (1st place)
Darn. A little slower, but still first place! I was kind of upset because I knew I could go faster. But I couldn’t be mad with that time and the first spot on the podium for the first time in my Stevens career. I was very glad I finally made it up there!
800 Freestyle Relay (200 free) = 1:54.98 (1st place)
Hell yeah!!!!! First place on the 800 Free relay!!! Teammates were Marissa Douglas, Hayley Hatfield, and Sian Pearson sharing the podium with me.
My split was a personal best way beyond what I thought my sprinting abilities were capable of! It was also the new Championship record and according to Trevor later that night.. I was pretty much guaranteed a spot to NCAAs with that relay : )
Uh-mazing feeling walking out of the waiting room to the entire team surrounding us and cheering us on!
Saturday AM:
Off-time resting for the Mile finals heat at night!
Saturday PM:
1650 Freestyle = 17:48.93 (4th place)
I went a couple seconds faster at ECACs, so it was a bit frustrating knowing that all the swimming I did in between then and now was for zero endurance improvement. However, it was the end of the meet and I was thoroughly satisfied with all that I had accomplished at that point. I wasn’t going to let this race bring me down even though it was the most painful experience.
Final Team Standings:
1. Ithaca College (1,505)
2. Stevens Institute of Technology (1,481)
3. Union College (1,170.5)
4. Nazareth College (793)
5. Hartwick College (778)
By the end of the meet, I was so happy with everything I did. I was so successful in all of my events and I was so so so happy. Over the course of the 4 years I swam for Stevens, I consistently improved my times and was faster every year. How could I have asked for anything more than that? That’s all I wanted and everything I could have hoped for. It was also a treat to have my mother there and it was just a blast to do all that with her to witness it. I love making her proud of me!
I want to thank God for my amazing teammates and coaches who have given me everything I need to succeed and all the confidence in the world. I am truly blessed.
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| Me and the boys after their awesome 4x200 free relay! |
My next exciting post will be after NCAAs : )
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