The IWU Swim and Dive teams left on Wednesday morning to make the drive to Danville, KY where they would be one of six teams competing in the Mid-South Conference Championships that would take place on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Unfortunately, the team wasn't able to find a hotel in the same town as Centre College where the races would take place, so they had to stay 30 minutes away and make the drive back and forth every day. They did arrive safely to their hotel on Wednesday afternoon (driving through heavy rain and a tornado watch) and then after settling into their hotel rooms, they took their bus to the college natatorium and spent the rest of the evening getting acquainted with the pool.
Marissa sent us these pictures after that first night's practice session.
Can you find her in these pictures? She almost made it in the full frame! LOL
And again... almost... LOL
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DAY ONE
On Thursday morning, the team would get up and eat breakfast at the hotel before leaving at 7:30 a.m. to begin the 30 minute trip to the school. Upon arrival, they would quickly begin warm-ups with the first session starting at 10:00. Marissa would swim the prelims for the 50 freestyle on Thursday morning with an entry time of 25.40 and a 9th place seed. She would finish the prelims with a better time of 24.89, which is a season's best and a 2nd fastest time ever, but unfortunately, she wasn't able to make up any placings and would swim in the consolation race in the evening's session. She would text us later that afternoon to let us know her morning results and although she had been hoping for an even lower time, she said she was completely focused on the evening session and starting off the night's meet by swimming in the 200 freestyle relay, where Marissa and her teammates were going for the school record.
This is one of the texts that we got from her on Thursday afternoon:
Okay, I will definitely start praying very specifically that the four of you can do that!
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After an afternoon spent resting and working on homework back at the hotel, the team was ready to finish out day one in the evening session, which began at 7:30. The relay would kick off the evening, and even though I wasn't even there, I started feeling really nervous for them around 7:00 when I knew it was getting ready to begin. A little later in the night, I received the update from meet mobile and I immediately started jumping up and down!! They did it -- they actually set a new school record! And not only did they get a new school record (by almost a second), but they also improved upon their seed placing and finished in 2nd place!
The team photographer captured this picture of them celebrating after they saw their final time.
(Marissa is the one standing but reaching down to congratulate Marta, who is still in the water)
Marissa would come back just an hour later to swim in the finals for the 50 freestyle and unfortunately, she added on just a little bit of time and finished 10th overall, but I'm guessing that after all of the adrenaline from their record setting race a few minutes before, they were all pretty tired and she just didn't have much left. In any case, the night was over and it was time to head back to the hotel and try to get some sleep for day #2.
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On Friday morning, I woke up and saw the post that Marissa had posted on her instagram so then Morgan and I used that picture to make our own posts. Marissa would see them later in the day after the second session was over. (I wonder if she knows how many people messaged us that day to express their happiness for her!?)
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DAY TWO
In Friday morning's session, Marissa would swim the 200 individual freestyle where she would match her previous lifetime PR with a time of 2:01.83. That would guarantee her a spot in the evening's consolation race and then she would also swim in the 800 freestyle relay.
After resting back at the hotel and catching up on some homework, they headed back to the pool for the evening session which started again at 7:30. A few minutes later, she would swim the individual 200 freestyle again in the consolation heat finishing with a new lifetime best 2:00.30 and finishing 11th overall in the conference. (I know that she was hoping to go sub 2 minutes, but hey, you can't get much closer than that, can you?)
The team would also swim a great relay and finish 3rd place in the conference but unfortunately they would find out after the meet that their team had been DQ'd because one of the coaches did not get their relay card turned in on time. I'm sure that they were all disappointed but all in all, it was another great day for both the boys and girls teams.
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DAY THREE
Saturday was the third and final day for the meet. Marissa was due to swim in the 100 individual freestyle in the preliminary session first thing in the morning, and then if she made the finals, she would swim the individual event in the evening session along with swimming in the 400 freestyle relay.
In the morning prelims, Marissa would swim the 100 freestyle with a time of 55:24 seeding her in 12 position. She would come back to swim in the consolation heat, but she was really disappointed with her time. Thankfully, she didn't allow herself to dwell very long on the morning session and she just said that although she was disappointed, she would be ready to come back and swim faster in the evening session.
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For the first two days, Noel and I hadn't been able to be there at the meet because I was home with the other kids (and attending Morgan's interview day for grad school) and Noel spent two days at the track clinic for high school track coaches. We both got up on Saturday morning and decided that if we left the house around noon, we could hopefully beat the ice storm on our way out of town and drive five hours (317 miles exactly) to arrive at the meet before the evening session started.
Three and a half hours later, we crossed over the bridge into Louisville, Kentucky...
... and another hour and a half after that, we finally arrived in rainy Danville. We grabbed some Subway sandwiches for dinner and then we headed to the natatorium in time to see Marissa finishing up with her warm-up swim. Thankfully she saw us as she was getting out of the warm-up pool and she gave us a quick wave and a smile before heading off to get suited up.
After nervously sitting through two heats of the 1650 freestyle, Marissa would swim in the consolation heat in the 100 individual event. She likes to get to her event a little early, so she walked over to stand behind the starting blocks and we thought that she was about to race, but then they took a break to give out awards for the 800 relay team and then the winners of the mile and butterfly. Then it was finally time for her to go.
She went out hard and swam a great race, improving on her 100 freestyle's morning's swim with a final time of 54.60, a new season's best and her second fastest time ever. I know that she was hoping to go under 54 seconds but it just wasn't meant to be. She still swam a great race and they still had their 400 relay left to go.
An hour later, the women's 400 freestyle relay team would go behind the blocks and get ready to not only finish out the night - but their Mid-South conference championships.
Taking a quiet moment together....
...and then a silly pre-race ritual. LOL
And then it was "go time".
The photographer got this great shot of Marissa diving off the blocks.
The relay would finish in 3rd place and all four swimmers had great splits. They would watch the boys swim their relay and then they went to receive their awards.
Congratulations to the ladies team as they took home 2nd place in the entire Mid-South Conference...
...and also to the boys team as they came in fourth place (missing third by a half of a point) and scoring the most points in the boy's team history.
In addition to their high finishes, IWU swim also set 20 program records over the course of the three day meet. 'Now that is something to celebrate!!
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After the meet was finished, Noel and I waited for Marissa to come out of the locker room so we could talk with her for a few minutes before we all had to leave. The team would be spending one more night at their hotel before making the drive home on Sunday morning, but Noel and I both needed to be at church early the next morning, so we would have to make the five hour drive back home. (Those last two hours were rough, let me tell ya! But God is good and we arrived home safely around 3:30 a.m. on Sunday)
A few hours after getting home from church, Marissa posted a few pictures and this announcement on her IG page:
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Ironically, in church the next morning, our Pastor used a quote from the great former basketball coach Bobby Knight and it reminded me of Marissa. (There's a background story to the quote and how it relates to church, but that's a post for another day) LOL
"The key is not the 'will to win'
Everybody has that.
It is the 'will to prepare to win' that is most important"
~Bobby Knight
Congratulations on an amazing season, Marissa, and an even more inspiring work ethic. I am grateful for any and every opportunity that I have to watch you swim. If anyone has the 'will to prepare to win', I know it's you. You truly are an inspiration and I love you!
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