I know I started blogging about Mexico last week but I am going to take a break from that to write about something that is more important than that. As soon as we got home from Mexico, we turned around & headed to College Station for the Texas Amateur Athletic Federation Summer Games of Texas, otherwise known as the state swim meet. If you remember, right before we went on vacation, Sadie won 2nd for her individual freestyle race & her relay team won 1st place at regionals:
She qualified to swim in both races at the state swim meet. To be honest, we knew nothing about this event but apparently it is like a mini Olympics for Texas. 12 sports competed this weekend & the games ran from Thursday thru Sunday. We drove up on Friday afternoon, she swam on Saturday afternoon & then we came home yesterday. We were a little worried since we had been on vacation because she missed every single state practice, their team picture, their team party, etc. She also stayed up late, ate horribly & did not practice on vacation. Next year we will plan our vacation a little better! We had 2 days at home before we left so we made her rest, clean up her diet & mentally prepare. She had 1 individual swim practice before we left but that was it. I could tell her nerves were starting to get the best of her so I tried my best to make it fun for her. We bought shirts to wear & I got them washed & ready:
The morning we left, she was surprised to wake up & find streamers hanging on her bedroom door & I had decorated our car for the drive down:
By Friday she had calmed down & was just excited to go stay in a hotel with her friends. We went to dinner & carbo loaded Friday night then headed to bed early.
Saturday morning she woke up & the first thing she told me was "Mom, I have a secret - I feel fast today!" And she was not nervous at all. She was so excited to go swim! We went earlier that morning to check her in:
I'm glad we got there early because it wasn't crowded so it gave us a chance to find where everything was, check out parking, check out the facility, buy tickets, etc. All of the events were on the campus at Texas A&M & their swim meet was in the Natatorium so we even got to sneak in there & let her see the pool:
It was by far the best facility she has ever swam in! We went back to the hotel briefly to change & get ready then it was time to head back up there. The meet started at 2:00, but her team warm up was from 12:45 - 1:10 & she was supposed to check in with her coach at 12:30. Unfortunately, when we dropped her off outside, she had to be down on the pool deck for the entire meet so we knew we wouldn't get to see her again until afterwards. And it was kind of intimidating for these 6 year olds to be dropped off outside by themselves, so we met up with some of her team mates, Lexie & Caroline. Caroline's brother swam the day before & since he had already been there & had an athlete's pass, he was able to escort them inside. We joked he was there bodyguard:
There were bleachers down on the pool deck so she was able to set up & we had sent her with her iPad, snacks, etc since they would be down there for 5 hours. I was a little worried about her iPad because she spent so much time on it, but she was sharing it with her friends & they were all playing games together & taking pictures of each other. In the end, it was probably the best distraction to keep their nerves under control:
Thankfully they had coaches & older girls down there who helped them throughout the meet. I think they all needed help with their swim caps. Apparently they took this team picture after warm ups:
They posted it on Facebook but I love it since it is taken down on the pool deck, by the water with the A&M signs in the background. This particular event was just for girls 8 & under or girls 18 & over. Can you believe how many girls from Frisco qualified?! Granted, most of the girls are on relays, only a few got to swim individual events.
So first up, Sadie swam the 25 meter freestyle individual. There were 4 heats & she was in the 4th heat, lane 8. And she killed it! I really thought she was in the top 3 because it was such an exciting race, but turns out she ended up getting 5th, which is still unbelievable. 30 girls qualified for state so to be in the top 5? Obviously the first place winner clearly won, but look how close 2nd - 5th place was:
All we cared about is that she swam the best she could & she did! She even shaved 1.58 seconds off of her time. She was excited & somehow Bryan convinced her to throw up a longhorn when she got out of the water:
Next up that had to wait around for a while because their relay was the 3rd to last event. The other girls didn't swim individual races so it was a really long day for them. But they had so much fun hanging out together. In fact, at one point I had to get on to Sadie because they went & jumped in the warm up pool & were playing around & I was worried they were wasting their energy! But honestly, you can't really tell from this picture but I love how they are just kids & sometimes it's like they don't even know what's really going on. They were just sitting on the side playing games & laughing:
And guess what - they killed their relay! They had 2 heats & they were in the slower heat so I was just hoping they made the top 10, but boy did they surprise us. They dominated their heat with a huge victory! And then the 2nd heat went & their time was so good, they beat most of them!!! So they ended up getting 4th in the 100 meter freestyle relay:
They shaved 19 seconds off their time, which is unbelievable! We have watched the video over & over and I really think Sadie swam even faster in this race than her individual race. It was such an exciting day & we were so proud of the girls! And she was a lucky girl to have such a big group supporting her:
Both sets of grandparents & Natalie drove to watch her! As soon as the meet was over, she was able to come up & of course Bryan wanted another picture of her horns with A&M in the background:
We took pictures with Grammy & Grandpa before they had to leave:
Then we waited to pick up her ribbons. Ribbons are awarded to the top 8 & thought she would be happy to receive one for both, but I think she was disappointed she didn't get a medal since those only went to the top 3. But in the end we cheered her up & had fun celebrating with everyone:
It was an awesome weekend & we are so incredibly proud of her. Who knew we would turn into such a swimming family but we have grown to love it. Both girls have already said they want to do it again next summer so for now, we are going to keep both in swimming lessons once a week while they get to have fun at school, playing soccer, etc. But I have a feeling come spring, we will be itching to get them back in the water for endurance training & getting them ready for the summer swim team again. Until next year!
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