Kenyon Invite
The anticipation for this meet was much different than any other last-chance meet we have gone to as a team. Leaving the Conference Meet late last Saturday I knew there were a few members of the team that felt they could still go faster, and I was excited to see them try with one more week of rest. I mean, it made sense... we had swam more and worked harder, so one more week of rest should be exactly what the guys needed.
Then Monday came - and seven guys showed up to the pool (pictured above at Kenyon). They changed and came on deck and realized most of their teammates had moved on to other things already. That's tough. To make matters even better was that pleasant reminder that after tapering for a meet every stroke you take the next week feels awful. Now, that's an even better start to our week.
Well, I'm lucky that my guys are tough. Most would have quit given this situation, but no matter how they felt, they trusted me when I told them things would get better. I showed them they were still in shape, I talked about the science of a "season plan", and they all nodded in agreement. Most importantly, they kept going... not necessarily happy, but not giving up either.
A lot of ups and downs still continued throughout the next two days - as is the case when you aren't sure about what lies ahead - but we got in the van, drove the 5 hours, and showed up the next morning eager to see to what would happen.
It happened... and happened awesome!!
Brent Graham starts the meet off with a 2.5 second drop in his 200 breast going 2:09.1 - missing our school record and the national cut by just a hair! Then our 200 Freestyle Relay jumps in and drops 1.5 seconds! That is simply unheard of -1.5 seconds faster??... just 7 days later???... Awesome! From there we knew we were on, and we had a blast the entire day.
Click here for official results. Below is a quick recap.
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Tim Deal drops two tenths off his 100 free life-time best.
Michael Hewitt splits 21.29 in the 50 Free - yup, a life-time best.
Nick Molby goes LTB's in the 50 and 200 free - looking even better than a week ago.
Kyle Weaver drops a 21.7 in the 50 Free and 52.1 in the 100 fly - both LTB's
Brent Graham = Stud. (2:09.1 - 200 Breast,. 4:09.99 - 400 IM, 4:47.4 - 500 Free)
Blaine Cooper-Surma splits 20.85 and 20.87 on the two relays they swam (LTB's)
And Jordon Blackwell led off Wabash College's 3rd fastest relay of all time with a 21.9.
200 Freestyle Relay splits
Blackwell - 21.95
Weaver - 20.97
Hewitt -21.29
Cooper-Surma -20.85
Total: 1:25.06 (the fastest 200 free relay since I have been here)
Weaver, Hewitt, Deal, Blackwell, BCS, Molby, Graham
