Let’s just get to the important part of this morning’s events because I know our loyal readers want to know…I rocked the pink lady eagle swimming t-shirt, jeans and white nike kicks.
Oh yeah, we had the 100 backstroke today. Here is how the morning unfolded...
I made my way over to the opposite side of the pool so I could write the times off everyone in an effort to find out what place she was going to end up a few minutes before it would be announced. Shortly before the backstrokes Chris Rhoades, the Edinboro coach, joined me offering his support and cheered just as loud for Amanda as I did.
As previously mentioned we were seeded 10th going into prelims. I was pretty close on what it would take to get into the top 8. I was guessing 57.2 or 3…turns out it was a 57.17. Amanda’s time this morning … 57.17 (a lifetime best). YESSS! Mission accomplished…she made the top 8. Awesome!
For the non-swimming crowd out there…by virtue of being in the top 8, she is guaranteed no lower than 8th place. This is great b/c we literally have nothing to lose we can only stay the same or (hopefully) move up. Also, the top 8 get to march out to some music and have a short bio read about them AND perhaps more importantly get some on the awards podium to receive some “hardware” as well being awarded the distinction of ALL AMERICAN. It's a pretty big deal...
Taking you through the race a little bit. Amanda was the only swimmer in her heat to not grab the starting block at the start (she grabs the wall). Not sure why I noticed that little factoid, but I did. The start was respectable, not her best, but defiantly not her worst. She spun her wheels a little bit so for tonight’s warm ups we are going to add a few more starts to the routine.
We had been working on getting into the walls really strong (backstroke turns permit you to do a full freestyle stroke before you flip in every practice for the past month we have done something to practice a fast turn). I give the first turn a B minus, the second turn was brilliant, an A plus, flipping early enough to get a full stroke in AND furiously kicked her legs to accelerate the process, it was great. The last turn doesn’t get a grade b/c I don’t remember it.
Amanda is a great finisher and this morning was no different. Ended up 3rd in her heat and 8th overall. After the race, I could tell there was a sense of relief and a great deal of excitment with Amanda. So far 2 swims at NCAA's, 2 lifetime bests!!
Lunch was consumed at Ruby Tuesday. There was a decent lunch crowd joining us that included the University of Wisconsin Softball and Toledo University Baseball teams. We enjoyed a rather satisfying meal with just one exception. Dorthoy, Amanda’s sister, discovered the hard way that the redskin potato salad is actually an apple salad. To put it nicely, she wasn’t overly thrilled about her discovery.
Traditional nap and tredmill time this afternoon with a 4pm departure.
BTW, “live timing” can be found @
http://www.mizzourec.com/
(look under “recent news”)
~finals
Departure time for the pool was 4pm. Much to the sha-grin of Amanda, and pretty much 90% of all the swimmers I have ever coached, I strongly encourage an nice long early warm up, stretch, then have a more race specific warm up closer to the start time. It’s just my style I guess…which is why we are usually one of the first teams at the pool and hopefully one of the first to hit the water. To her credit Amanda hasn’t whined too much about this…
We did get to the pool in plenty of time to swim before they became saturated with swimmers. Our race specific warm up consisted of 4, 25’s … the first 2 where all out, the next 2 where just good breakouts. I felt good about them, but does it really matter how I felt?
With the help of Amanda’s monster towel, which she laid out upon our arrival, her mom and sister scored some front row seats. They arrived and disappeared one at a time only to reappear a short time later proudly sporting matching T-shirts. They were airbrushed shirts of an oversized duck with some supportive wording and Amanda’s nickname. I think Amanda loved it.
The start of the meet finally had a real American Flag, the ROTC color guard placed themselves atop the 10 meter diving platform, for the national anthem. It’s a nice step up from the “cartoon” on the mini-jumbo-tron (is it possible to have a mini-jumbo tron?)
The meet started with the 500’s … seeing the oldest record in all of D2 swimming (1987) get broken by an amazing swimmer from Southern Connecticut State. The men’s 500 saw 3 swimmers from PSAC powerhouse, West Chester, in the championship finals. The next event was the 100 backstroke.
Before each championship final the swimmers have to report to the “ready room” where they are lined up (lane 1 is first, lane 2 is second etc) and marched to the starting block to a song selected by the top seed.
Amanda walked to lane 8 looking a bit nervous, but very confident at the same time. The announcer stumbled through a bio sheet for each swimmer, he usually screws up more then he gets right, and announced to the crowd that Amanda was Lock Haven’s first ever NCAA qualifier and the PSAC runner up in this event.
Amanda’s preliminary swim was much more technically sound (I don’t think I would give any of her turns a grade above a B minus), but tonight she managed to have the exact same time at the halfway point which is a testament to the racing mentality that Amanda possesses. Her feet hit the wall last at the 50 yard mark, but in typical Terray fashion she picked up the pace to finish up the race a shade faster than her morning swim…57.11. A new lifetime best and was good enough for 6th place, improving 2 spots.
So far she’s had 3 total swims and achieved 3 lifetime bests…
Dinner was a small feast at Applebees where a majority of the time was spent calling and texting various people with all the highlights. The Wisconsin Softball team made another appearance only to walk back out the door when they realized there were only 2 empty tables available. After eating out for this entire week it is going to be a LONG time before I go anywhere but home to eat again.
Let’s look ahead to tomorrow’s race…
Key’s for Amanda to have a successful 200 backstroke are get out quick (I am hoping for a 59 at the 100 mark), great turns (utilize the freestyle stroke, and kick, to get into the walls quick), not letting up on the 3rd 50 (sometimes Amanda lets up on the 3rd 50). Of course all this will go in one ear and out the other b/c once the race begins it is exactly that … a race, and I can’t wait to watch!
No comments:
Post a Comment