You launch yourself off that block just like a spring. You hear the uproar of the crowds before your finger-tips break the surface of the water, plunging 3 feet under the water. Then, silence as you go through your breakout. You've done it a hundred times before: dolphin, dolphin, dolphin, dolphin, dolphin, dolphin, dolphin, free kick. Fast. You break the surface, and you go. First stroke sets the tempo for the entire race, it's got to be fast. You kick as fast as you can, then faster. You take a breath to the left, see your coaches jumping and waving you on, faster, faster, faster. Flip: the world goes up-side-down for a split-second, then you push off the wall as hard as you can. All in a matter of hundredths of a second. Another breakout, less distance, but just as fast. Keep kicking, keep stroking, keep moving faster than you knew to be possibly. You see the wall in sight, take that last breath, then go. If you thought you were kicking it into high gear before, that was nothing. You don't stop kicking till you hand goes "through the wall". You see the girl you were racing touch, you beat her. Your relay is in first. You look up, see the second leg's feet leaping off the block. Your part is done. You pull yourself out of the water, and the yelling begins. For Halie. For Kaitlin. For Lindsey. The anchor touches the wall, winning the race by a body length. But is it enough? Is that one race, that last race of the entire meet, enough to win Divisionals for your team?
It turns out, it is.
The meet was TIED going into the last event. Coming from a 2nd place seed, to win the race is what was required to win the meet. And you did it. You four girls did it. You won the meet. Your team won the meet. You did it.
Split? 27.0
Team record? Only surpassing the prior by a second and a half.
Final score? Coles Crossing: 341. Wortham: 343.
We did it.
1 comment:
YES--you did it! So proud of you! I love your writing, score of a 4 for voice. Have you considered sports journalism?
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