Our N & M's: 2024 Sectionals // Championship Meet

Sectional championships were to begin at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday.

I had gone in early for the diving prelims on Saturday morning so Marissa wasn't up yet when I left the house. I was just really hoping and praying that she felt good and was able to sleep well the night before. The team was just arriving by the time that the diving prelims were finishing up, so I wasn't able to talk to her a lot but she said that except for feeling sick to her stomach because of nerves, she would be okay. She had some food to eat and something to drink. There was loud music playing in the background to hype everyone up and then her teammates all came out of the locker room and the mood seemed to pick up and the excitement began to build. As far as us fans... I'm not sure that the meet could start soon enough. We were all so nervous wondering what was about to happen. 'Just get it started already, right?

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After warming up for a short while, they all went back into the locker room to get suited up into their tech suits. Since this was the finals and Marissa was so close to the top seed, she also suited up for the first time this year. And then they all came back out to warm up more and practice some starts. Marissa knew that her 50 freestyle would most likely come down to a great start, so even after the rest of her team went back to sit down, she kept working with Coach D on more starts until the pool closed and the meet was ready to start.

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Once the meet started, our girls would be swimming in the championship heat of the Medley relay. The consolation swims went first and then the championship teams were paraded out and around the pool. Our girls would be seeded 6th place and Marissa would anchor the team with a 50 freestyle.

Marissa had a really good split, swimming a 24.80 and made up some ground on the leading swimmers. Her team would improve on their seed time by two spots and finish with a 4th place finish.

I didn't record the entire video - just as she dove in - but Marissa is over in the lane farthest away with the silver swim cap.

With her first event completed, Marissa would jump back into the diving well and continue swimming laps to stay warm and loose for her upcoming 50. The fans in the stands would stay extremely nervous as we waited to see how this would all play out in her individual events. Obviously, Marissa hoped that she would be able to come from behind and win her events, but she was competing against some really good swimmers and you can't downplay their abilities. It really was anyone's race. (A little side note however -- Marissa competed against the same three top girls last year and won last year so she definitely had a target on her back. Earlier this season, Marissa competed in a meet against one of the swimmers (who was now the fastest seed in these sectionals) and the other girl won that race, which seemed to give the other swimmer a lot of confidence. She showed up Thursday night full of that confidence and did a little "trash talking about how she was unbeatable" which Marissa overheard and didn't appreciate. She said she would just use it as "fuel" to race harder during the finals. We certainly hoped that it would work.

A few minutes later, it was time for the 50 freestyle race. The consolation race went first and then the championship swimmers did their parade in front of the stands. Marissa wouldn't even make eye contact with us as she came out and I'll be honest with you... she looked like she was going to throw up. Her two toughest (fastest) competitors were the two girls walking in right in front of her.

She went right to lane #3 to take off her jacket and to adjust her blocks

I didn't take any pictures after she got up on the starting blocks because I knew that I was shaking so much that they would all be blurry anyway. Thankfully Noel was taking a video so I knew that I could just screenshot from that later. Just watch this video for yourself but beware, the screaming gets a little loud. It was a close race and the entire Warsaw section was going slightly nuts!

Marissa is in lane #3 and she has the most amazing start!!

And then Marissa's reaction when she got to the wall and looked up to see her place / time.

She would now be a two-time sectional champion in the 50 freestyle with a brand new PR!

50 Freestyle 1st Place 24.64

Despite the dirty looks given to her all meet and the rude comments she was subjected to, I was so excited to look down and see Marissa initiating contact with her competitors. She could have ignored her or snubbed her, but she didn't. She was very gracious and congratulated her on her new PR as well.

Later in the weekend, I did take screenshots of the race from the video that Noel took. It looked a lot closer as it was happening then on the video, but the screenshots break it down a bit more and show that she pulled away more at the end than we realized. And I absolutely LOVE the Coach's excitement on the back half as he's cheering her on and suddenly realizes that she is going to win.

Here are a couple of screenshots showing how the race progressed. Again, she's in lane #3 from the bottom of the picture

Finally... a sigh of relief as she's on top of the podium and all the pressure is now off. She was feeling more confidant about the 100 coming later in the day, but it's like it didn't even matter anymore as she achieved the goal that she had been working for all year. Another sectional championship!!

Congratulations Marissa. Back to Back 50 champ!

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After the 50, there is a break to finish up diving so all of the swimmers went back to their chairs to eat and rest and we finished out the last three rounds of diving. I was suppose to keep diving scores once again, but my hand was shaking so bad as the adrenaline started to wear off. I don't know how anyone could read my chicken scratches!! LOL

And then before we knew it, it was time to get back up to the stands and the second half of the meet was going to start. We'd sit through the 100 butterfly and then Marissa would be announced again for the 100 freestyle championship race. Once again they would parade out and walk in front of the spectators.

Here they come.

This time the #1 seed was right behind her and had to watch her the entire way to the starting blocks.

(A little back story.... as they were getting lined up over by the diving well before parading out, a couple of girls from another school said to the #1 seed that they were cheering for her to win because "it's time for someone new" and then they all huddled in a circle and talked about Marissa as she was standing right there. I don't know if they thought they were going to psych her out or something, but once again, it just gave her motivation to go out strong and swim for the win).

We didn't know it at the time, but I bet that she was thinking about that all the way around to the starting blocks.

This time she would be in lane #5. She would have the fastest girls on each side of her so she knew where they were the entire race.

Once again I put my camera down once she got up on the starting blocks and just let Noel take a video. And then once again, I went back later in the weekend and took screenshots from the video to break it down a little more and show Marissa how she looked.

It was another great start for Marissa and thankfully, this race wasn't as close so we didn't have to scream the entire time. LOL

Less than a minute later, Marissa would touch the wall first and become a three time Sectional Champion in the 100 freestyle with a new PR time of 54.35.

Here are a couple of screenshots of that race:

Marissa is swimming in lane 5 in the silver cap.

She was already leading at the end of the first 50...

...and then leading as they come down the final stretch.

And she just kept opening up the gap. At this point, we were confident that she was going to win her second individual event on the day

And Marissa is the 100 freestyle champion by over a full second on the second place swimmer.

On the podium for the 100 freestyle awards

With her win this year, she become a three time champion in this event.

Always the coach... he had a few words to say after that race. But I think he was mostly congratulating her and encouraging her for her final swim in the relay which would be coming up soon.

Marissa's last event for the day would be swimming anchor in the 200 freestyle relay. All four swimmers would swim a 50 and although they were seeded first coming into the day, they all needed to cut a second from their times to have a chance to win because the two favored teams hadn't used their fastest girls on Thursday night when they raced. It would be a tough but exciting race.

Here come the girls for yet another parade. For Marissa, she was especially proud of this group because her best friend and senior classmate would be swimming right in front of her and they got to walk out side by side, which really meant a lot to Marissa.

It's hard to believe, but no matter what, this will be Marissa's last time behind the blocks competing at her high school. What a bittersweet moment!!

The team would be in lane #3 with the team in lane #4 as their toughest competition.

When it was Marissa's turn, we were behind slightly but still a lot closer than anyone expected as the first three girls swam lifetime best swims and took off the second that they needed to take off. Could Marissa do the same? She loves to chase people down and we have seen her come back for the win many, many times, but we didn't know if she could do it this time as she jumped in almost a full body length behind.

(I was probably really cheering at this point so the pictures are blurry once again. My apologies)

Do you want to know what happened? Here, watch for yourself.

Disclaimer: By this point in the meet, everyone has lost their stinkin' mind and we are just yelling and screaming because the race was so close. And Noel might have forgotten that the video was still running at the end. I could edit it to leave that part off, but it's more fun to keep it real and authentic. And in case you were wondering... although the coach stayed relatively calm through most of the race, he jumped up in the air and then threw his clip board down to the deck when the race ended.

Wow! What a race! No one was expecting that but those girls swam amazing and Marissa capped off her sectional swim with another championship race and a new PR split of 24.27!!

We had prayed that God would give Marissa the strength to compete well. Obviously we wanted her to win, but if she didn't, we prayed that she could walk away knowing that she swam to the best of her ability for the glory of God, but I'm not even sure that we could have ever hoped for a better way for the sectional championships to play out for Marissa. It truly was an unbelievable day. She has had a of struggles this year, especially with her health, and to see it end like this was more than we could have asked for. We are thankful of God's overwhelming goodness!

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After the meet was over and the pool area was cleaned up, Marissa asked if we would get pictures taken with her. We definitely agreed. This is the fun part - what she has worked so hard towards for so many years! Enjoy it and soak it all in!!