Smoky Mountain Swim Meet

Today was a HUGE swim meet! I think it is the largest outdoor swim meet in the south. Regardless, it's big! Each swimmer is allowed to compete in up to 4 events. The top 12 swimmers from each event earn points for their team. Rachel's four events were the 100 yard individual medley (IM), the 25 yard freestyle, the 25 yard backstroke, and the 25 yard butterfly. Rachel competes in the 8 & under girls division. She rocked today!!! She started out with the 100 yard IM. She had some major nervous issues, but fought through and finished and ended up in 6th place earning 9 points for her team! She then swam in the 25 freestyle. There were over 160 girls swimming in her division, and Rachel ended up in 6th place, earning another 9 points for her team!!! Next up was the 25 backstroke. Rachel has been working on her start and finish for this stroke. All that work paid off because she finished in 1st place out of over 140 girls and earned 16 points for her team!!! Last up was the 25 butterfly. She had a bad start off the blocks, but she still managed to end up winning 4th place and earning another 11 points for her team!! She swam personal best times in the freestyle, backstroke, and butterfly! Altogether, she earned 45 points for her team!!! To put that number into perspective, last year her entire team (all boys & girls from ages 6 to 18) only scored 57.5 points for the entire meet! This year Rachel herself scored 45 points for her team! There were some others on her team who really swam hard yesterday and today and earned points for the team!! I'm not sure of the exact total team score yet, but I think we ended up with over 150 points this year! Way to go team!!! So proud of Rachel and all the other swimmers!!!