Real Athletes Don't Wear Shoes

Saturday was the Tri-State Region Swim Championships.  This is the culmination of all the work my girls have done this summer.  I am happy to say that after their preliminary times, they both qualified for the finals on Saturday.  More important, they each met the goals they set for themselves at the beginning of the summer.

Emily wanted to improve her backstroke so that she could swim without running into the lane lines and wanted to learn to do flip turns for both the front crawl and the backstroke.  Lela wanted to improve her time in the 100m IM.  At the first meet of the season on June 9, 2012, she received a time of 2:03:49.  Her final time at Championships was 1:39:78.  They were both very happy with their results and are excited for the final Invitational this weekend.  It is aptly titled: Beat the Heat.

Here are some pictures from the preliminary races and videos from the finals:

Lela Attacks the Butterfly

Emily's Straight Lines on her Backstroke

Emily's Smooth Takeoff for the Breaststroke

Emily's Breaststroke

Lela's Breaststroke

Emily's Flipturn in the Front Crawl or Freestyle

Swim Crazed

Today was the first swim meet of the Tri-State Summer Swim League.  With the two girls swimming, we had a child in each event in the 9/10 age bracket.  Luckily, the only event in which Lela and Emily competed against each other was the breaststroke.  We'll see how that goes come Monday when the ribbons and times are handed out.  We just keep telling them that they are really competing against themselves and need to make sure their own times improve each meet.

My parents have been at their condo in St. George for the last week and stayed over with us an extra day to attend the meet as well.  The girls were very excited about this.  My parents and my sister were troopers and stayed till the very last event.

My little fish

Jon and his mom

Lela rocks the Butterfly - no one could catch her.  Definitely her strongest stroke.

The Bubble Girls 

Taking a breather, watching the rest of the times on the scoreboard

I realized that every picture that had my dad, also had me not at my best 

My mom and Lela 

Love my mom's and Lorelei's hats

I was told I goofed this up.  It needs to read "I Swim so IM"  The IM or Individual
Medley is Lela's favorite event where she swims one lap of each stroke.

The Bubble Girls

I have to admit that it was a little on the hot side since we were at an outdoor pool, but luckily we were finished by noon just as the temperature hit 90 degrees.  I know we drank every bit of water we took with us and then headed for shaved ice after the meet.  THANK YOU to The Big Chill!!

Of course while we were in St. George, we had to stop at Costco.  I soon remembered why I only do this every couple of months - I never get out of the store for less than $200.  I wonder if anyone noticed our family in the matching shirts.

Next week is at Hurricane and after today, I will make sure I pack extra sunscreen.  Thank you to the coaches and the staff at the Hurricane City Pool for all their effort.  Without them, there would be no team.  We are going to have a great season!