10 total heats of mens and womens 500 freestyle made for a little more waiting around than we probably would have liked. Amanda's 100 back was the first LHU swim of the day. She had a great start and equally as great first turn ... got stuck a little on the wall on the 2nd turn, but rebounded nicely to finish up tied for 4th going into finals. She went a 56.69 ... another school record/lifetime best.
Britt's 100 breast was the next event ... she was set up in lane 1 ... cutting to the chase (b/c i need a little nap) she tied the swimmer in lane 2 ... and they actually ended up tied for 8th ... SWIM OFF ... we decided to stick with going after the 800 free relay ... I gave Britt the option to swim it to swim it, or swim it to go after a best time ... she didn't even hesitate when I asked and said she was going to go for it to pursue a best time.
She lead off with an all time top 5 swim of 1:59.6 ... amanda was the next one in the water, took it out like a maniac and was hurting a little towards the end, but had a respectable 159 split...sam was next and rocked a 159 as well ... jenna (straight sprinter) brooks brought it home with a 2:01 ... just a really great effort by the ladies.
Right after the relay, Britt is assured no less than 30 minutes rest from her last swim before the swim off can take place. After all the heats of the relays there was about 5 minutes before the swim off. Britt was swimming against a sophmore from UC - San Diego ... one of the largest and most spirited teams at NCAAs, they really get behind their teammates ... during the 5 minutes the UC swimmers were starting to assemble behind lane 4 ... our 3 other qualifers and teammates who are volunteering along with a large number of our sports admin volunteers were right next to them at the end of lane 5 ... both groups were chanting and supporting their swimmer. I couldn't help but to smile and think just how special the moment was ... just gives me goosebumps (a common occurance this week!).
Behind the block Britt looked calm, but excited (in the bleachers her mom on the other hand...not so calm, but equally as excited) ... at the first 50 she was just a little slower than the morning swim (UC swimmer was faster for her split) ... at the 3rd 75 they were .03 seconds apart....place was going nuts ... right after the pull out both swimmers looked long and strong, Britt started to inch ahead with about 10 yards to go ... and when she hit the wall Britt was 1:04.48 ... a mere .11 faster than the UC swimmer. Just an awesome race....Britt will now be seeded 8th going into finals and upon a succesful completion of the race will be an All-American.
GO HAVEN!!
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