So, there are some rules here in AZ about when and how you can qualify for the state meet or break a school record. I've been trying to understand why the swimmers can't just achieve these things at any meet. I think I figured it out...
They don't have any swimming officials at the duel meets between the high schools. I can see how you can't make it officially a school record or a state qualifying time if there aren't any stroke and turn judges or officials. To accommodate this, they have what are called "Invitational Meets" periodically throughout the high school swim season. The Liberty HS Lions attended their first invitational, along with 16 other high schools, in Mesa this past Saturday. There were definitely a lot of officials around, so it seemed legit!
I'm really grateful Troy got to attend this meet because it was so fun!
They don't have any swimming officials at the duel meets between the high schools. I can see how you can't make it officially a school record or a state qualifying time if there aren't any stroke and turn judges or officials. To accommodate this, they have what are called "Invitational Meets" periodically throughout the high school swim season. The Liberty HS Lions attended their first invitational, along with 16 other high schools, in Mesa this past Saturday. There were definitely a lot of officials around, so it seemed legit!
I'm really grateful Troy got to attend this meet because it was so fun!
Great reaction time off the block!
This was Kent's money shot! Love it!
Troy swam the 100 butterfly first. Honestly, I'm a bad mother because I didn't think Troy would break the school record until a little later in the season. Boy, was I wrong! In the video below, Troy is in the red cap, 3rd lane from the left. We haven't seen the official results yet, but we believe he took 2nd overall based on the call by the announcer. I tried to get a shot of the results board at the end, but it was too blurry!
I love this picture Kent took during the backstroke leg of the 200 medley relay. He's just about to break the surface!
Next individual event was the 100 backstroke. Troy came into the meet with the 2nd fastest time, but that time was 59 seconds. Unofficially, he has gone faster, more in the low 58 second range. We also knew that this school record was definitely going down since it was 1:02. We just didn't realize he would go quite this fast! He's wearing a black cap this time, right there in the middle. It was a battle the entire race! Excuse my "expletive" at the end of the video... :o)
Troy was barely out touched at the wall by 2 tenths of a second! He was really happy about the record and his time, but disappointed about the finish. He will definitely use that as motivation in his upcoming meets.
We are really proud of our boy and what he has been able to accomplish this year considering he missed almost all of 2013 with that shoulder injury. He has worked really hard and we are so grateful we took a chance with acupuncture last January.
Troy has his work cut out for him though... he's only a sophomore and there are some really fast swimmers in this state. He is sure to compete against a bunch of them at the next invitational and hopefully his times will be fast enough to qualify for the state meet in November!
GO LIBERTY LIONS!
We are really proud of our boy and what he has been able to accomplish this year considering he missed almost all of 2013 with that shoulder injury. He has worked really hard and we are so grateful we took a chance with acupuncture last January.
Troy has his work cut out for him though... he's only a sophomore and there are some really fast swimmers in this state. He is sure to compete against a bunch of them at the next invitational and hopefully his times will be fast enough to qualify for the state meet in November!
GO LIBERTY LIONS!
