Following Her Dream

We came to Texas to watch our oldest granddaughter Kylie follow her dream in the National Swimming Competition West, held at Texas A & M in College Station. Now a high school junior, I think she was 5 when we took her to her regular swimming lesson. (Her Mom was in the hospital after the birth of her brother.) Since then we have been to numerous swim meets. Our RV travels and winters in Arizona have limited that in recent years but this is the second year we have attended the national competition--also referred to as the Junior Olympics.

We arrived on campus a day before Kylie and checked our where the swimming would be held. These were the signs on the door where she would go in. We had to look further to find the public entrance.

We saw the calm before the storm. I don't know how many competitors there were in the event, but in the women's 200 backstroke event on Saturday morning, Kylie was one of 128 contestants. In the 100 freestyle she was one of 160 swimmers. And that is only the women. There was also competition for the junior men (under age 19, I think.)

In three days Kylie competed in 8 events--freestyle, back and butterfly in different distances and two relays with teammates from Colorado. Preliminary competition is in the morning. The top 24 in each event return for finals in the evening.

Friday Kylie was in the 100 fly.  Here you can see her with her hands on her hips wearing the dark blue swim cap. 

She placed #1 in her heat but overall only 43rd.  Talk about competition!

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Saturday one of her events was the 100 freestyle.   She placed second in her heat and 20th in the competition meaning she would be in the finals that evening.We were delighted to return to the pool to watch the finals. Competing at this level is serious business.  It was interesting to watch this 17 year old's face as she waited her turn to swim.

Thinking about what her coach is telling her.

Talking to her friends.

Thinking

Ooh, what is going to happen?

I'm going to go do my best.

I did it!  Before the race Kylie ranked 58 based on her previous times; she was 20th after the prelims and 18th in the finals.  Great job girl!

We left after that race.  Here we are with Kylie and her dad, our son Eric.

Isn't it fun to be a grandparent? Good job, Kylie!

More to be Proud Of

I've posted before about our granddaughter Kylie and what a wonderful swimmer she it. Last weekend, she competed in a high school swim meet in the south Denver suburban area. We are so proud of her. She set two pool records with her swims, placing first in those events.

The LittletonIndependent web site posted a story about the meet this week and here is the part of the story by Jim Benton that talks about Kylie. She is not only excellent at swimming, she is a real team player and a humble person.


It took her a bit, but Heritage sophomore Kylie Andrews finally admitted she performed well in the Smoky Hill Invitational girls swim meet on Jan. 16.

Heritage won the meet with 483 points to finish ahead of host Smoky Hill and Chaparral, which finished third. Legend was fourth, Douglas County/Castle View eighth and Ponderosa 13.

Andrews set pool records in winning the 100-yard butterfly and 100 backstroke. She swam a 55.91 to better the butterfly meet record of 56.07 set by Heritage's Shelly Patton in 2012.

In the 100 backstroke, her time of 56.03 snapped her own meet record of 57.39 set last season. Andrews also holds the meet record of 52.33 in the 100 freestyle, but she didn't swim in that event this season.

She also contributed on relay teams. CJ Mitchell, Andrews, Marissa Kiefer and Katherine Harston won the 400-freestyle relay in 3:40.59. Andrews also swam on the 200-medley relay team, which placed second.

“My team did really good and all my competitors in my races, my opponents, did really well,” said Andrews. “And I feel like I had a pretty good races.

“Right now I feel real good with how I'm doing. There is always room for improvement. There were just good vibes for this meet, and everyone did really well. I like all the events I swim except for really breaststroke.”

A Good Day

After our tense and exciting morning at the swim meet, Kylie spent the afternoon taking a nap and doing homework. We did a little shopping and picked up a Subway for lunch. We returned to the University of Texas campus and the swimming area in time for the evening finals competition. After watching the final heats of the men's and women's 1650 yard (that is one mile, imagine!), competition, it was time for the 200 yard back men's and women's race.

It is special and somewhat unusual for a swimmer on their first time in the Junior Nationals to reach the finals. We are so proud of Kylie for doing that. She swam in the second of three heats. She didn't come first, second or third, but she did well and we were all proud of her. She felt good about the race. Her time in this event has placed her 12th in all junior women in the Western US.

We went to dinner at Pei Wei with Kylie, Liz and her coach Bill to celebrate her accomplishments.

We are so glad our lifestyle allows us to do things like this. When we decided to travel full time and even long times in our RV, what we gave up was the daily or at least weekly contact with our son and his family in Colorado. Being able to attend events like this make up for part of that loss.

What a Morning!

We were all really biting our fingernails or sweating or tense. Kylie was in the preliminary race in 200 yd backstroke. The competition included 107 young women under the age of 18 and she was seeded 29. Finally, it was about time for her heat--#11 of 14. We learned yesterday that the slowest swimmers go in the early heats, each one getting faster.

Finally, she lined up behind lane 3.

It is fun to watch her jump into the pool, since swimmers begin the backstroke from in the pool. Look at her legs curled up under her as she hops into the water.

At the end of her heat, she was in second place--how exciting!

Remember, I said each heat got faster.  After the next heat she had moved down to 7th.

After the next heat, she placed 12.

And here are the final results.  She placed 15. What a relief!  The top 24 get to swim in the finals.  Kylie will be in the second heat of three.  We are nervously waiting.

The Competition Begins

Finally. The Junior Nationals Swimming in Austin has begun. Today was the first day of competition. Our granddaughter, Kylie, had only one event--time trials in the 50 freestyle. She didn't qualify for the competition here in the 50 free, but this time trial allows Kylie to try for a good time in the event. Competition at this level is all about times. Swimmers don't progress by winning lower level meets. They get here by having times that are good enough to qualify.  That time is always their highest best time in each event.

Kylie is the only member of her Colorado team to qualify for this meet.  On Tuesday, she attended classes before leaving for the airport.  When she went out to her car in the morning, her swim team members had decorated her car to support her.

She showed us her suit.

Then her mom bought her a sweatshirt from this meet. She has one from every competition above the state level that she has participated in. Here is the front, as well as symbols on the sleeves--# (hashtag) free, back, fly and swim. She will be swimming in freestyle, back stroke and butterfly events.

From the stands, we watched her walk to the poolside with her coach, Bill.

We watched her take off her sweatshirt and stretch, then get ready to dive in the pool.

And they're off!

Less than 30 seconds later, Kylie came in second in this heat. The best news is, she improved on her previous best time.

Her coach then escorted her off the pool deck, giving her pointers to improve future times.

All Aboard for Austin

Sunday we drove to Tucson before boarding Amtrak for our travel to Austin for the Junior National Swimming competition.  Our granddaughter Kylie will be competing there later this week.

We checked into the Best Western Royal Sun for the night.

  Then we located the Amtrak station, discovering that was far enough from our motel we would need a taxi to get there with our bags.  Since we are returning to the same motel on the 15th, we are able to park our truck here for free while we are gone.
This old Southern Pacific engine is on display at the station, as well as this statue.

We ate dinner at the Royal Sun Restaurant—John’s steak Diane was very  good, my golden fried cod and french fries were overcooked and flavorless.  Our free breakfasts this morning were both very good.
Our taxi driver Jose picked us up just before 8, we were able to board the train about 8:30, and we are off to Austin.

We are looking forward to a great week of travel and adventure and grandparent fun.

Oh, To Be A Teenager Again

NOT But is was fun during the past week to participate in the preparations for the high school homecoming dance our oldest granddaughter attended last night. We had two sons, no daughters. So last weekend, I enjoyed sewing straps on Kylie's strapless dress. She had to try it on so we would know they were in the right place. She looks so pretty and grown up--until you look at the socks she is wearing.

Yesterday, we went to watch Kylie and two close friends have their hair fixed for the dance. Kylie's cousin Andrea loves doing that work. Here she is doing Caitlin's hair.

Mom Shannon started some of the curling on Emily's hair, then Andrea finished the job.

Kylie's hair was already done when we got to the house.

Here choice of footwear hadn't changed much during the week.

Kylie tried to take a picture of herself in the mirror.

Here are the three girls, ready to go have the pictures taken with other neighborhood high school freshmen.

The girls and their families all live in the same neighborhood and have known each other for years. Here is the whole group from the neighborhood.

We were impressed with how much fun these boys and girls (young men and women?) were having with each other and how well they cooperated with the parents and some grandparents taking the pictures.  They could be silly and serious.

Sometimes there was a mother or two doing the arranging, while younger brothers played in front.

The boys played some football when not posing.  You could hear warnings of (no grass stains) from the parents.

The photographers were very focused.

After all these young people left for dinner before the dance (with parents doing the driving), we we out for pizza with Eric, Liz and John.

We heard today that Kylie had a great time at her first high school dance.  Hopefully, the rest of high school will go as well.