Swim meet #2

We have survived our first week of swim meets for the summer.  It’s been a bit of a shock to the system to get back into the rigorous schedule.  Tuesdays & Thursdays will be LONG for the next few weeks.  This week we started off with practice (on those days) at 8 am and kept going until Thomas’ final swims around 10 pm.  Whew!

Thursday night’s meet was at Sha-Mel-Lon pool in West Ashley.  Thomas was up first in the Mixed Medley Relay swimming the final leg: freestyle.  By the time he got in the pool, they were already a lap behind the other team, but he did great and he got another second place ribbon.  Here was his swim:

Thomas swims freestyle

Then Parker was up.  He was swimming (exhibition) against two of his best buddies.  He started off strong and then…well, he had to breathe.  We are still working on that part!  It’s all just for fun though, so mission accomplished! He’s in the lane furthest from the camera (Lane 2):

Parker swims freestyle

Then after a little wait, it was time for Thomas to swim butterfly.  He seemed a little tired and his stroke was a bit off (he says his goggles weren’t working right), but he earned a third place ribbon nonetheless.  And Thomas, not known for being uber competitive, was perfectly okay with that!  He’s in the lane closest to the camera (Lane 4) here:

Third place butterfly

Next up was Thomas in the breaststroke.  It’s still not his favorite stroke, but apparently he’s one of the few on his team who is “legal” in it, so he keeps getting put in it “for points.”  When I saw the judge indicate a disqualification, I thought it was Thomas (because it was on Tuesday), but turns out he was okay (and it was the person next to him who stopped midstroke who DQd – even though they finished first!).  So Thomas’ third place finish earned him a second place ribbon because of the other child’s DQ.  He’s in the lane closest to me again:

Third place breaststroke wins second place

For the final event of the night Thomas was in the Freestyle Relay.  He was swimming the third leg and did a great job of moving his team into first place for the final leg (helped a bit by the goggle malfunction of his competitor).  The final swimmer on his relay lost his lead and it appeared our team would settle for second place until we realized the other team DQd on the final leg with an illegal streamline.  So Thomas’ team won first place – but due to some sort of issue at the ribbon table, they ran out of first place ribbons so we have nothing to prove it.    Here’s the video of his leg (he’s in Lane 2, three lanes away from me):

Thomas swims final freestyle relay

I’m glad our first week is in the books.  Parker is just as proud of his two exhibition ribbons as Thomas is of his one 1st place ribbon, 1 3rd place ribbon and five 2nd place ribbons! 

Two more next week!