Mid-South Conference Championships 2025

 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!

Swim Meet at the University of the Cumberlands

 The swim team left on Friday at 3:15 and headed south to the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, KY.  It was about a six hour trip and thankfully they made it to their hotel without incident. On Saturday, the meet started at 2:00 and she would swim in three events... the 100 breaststroke, the 50 freestyle, and the 4x100 relay.

It was live-streamed so I started watching it and I was able to watch her swim both the breastroke and freestyle events, but then she wasn't racing again until the very last races of the meet so I wasn't able to watch the entire meet.

It's been a while since she has swam the 100 breaststroke but she improved on her previous best time with a new PR of 1:18.  Her 50 freestyle was slower than she would have liked but then the relay came through with a big victory, winning their entire event.  (Unfortunately, we don't know the individual splits of that race, but they placed first, so the team was happy about that).

Marissa will be back in the competition pool for at least one more meet this season as the team will compete in the Conference Championships in Kentucky during the first week of February.  

2024 Calvin Winter Invitational // Grand Rapids Winter Championship

 After a month without any competitions, the IWU swim team was back in action this past weekend.  Marissa and the team traveled to Grand Rapids, MI this past Wednesday night in the middle of a winter storm advisory with white-out conditions and quite a bit of snow falling.  Thankfully, they made it to Calvin University safely on Wednesday night and then they settled in and prepared to kick off the Winter Invitational on Thursday morning.

Marissa would swim the 50 individual freestyle during the Thursday morning session and she raced to a Season's Best time of 25.40 and finished in 34th place out of over 60 Division II and NAIA swimmers.  She needed to finish in the top 32 to advance to the Thursday night finals however, so she wouldn't have a chance to improve upon that time.  Although it is a fast enough time to make the provisional "B" cut for Nationals,  there are limited spots at the National Championships, she will have to wait to see if it's fast enough to receive an invite after all of the "A" cuts are entered.  She knows that she can swim faster than that however, so she was pretty disappointed and really wanted to have that one back.  

Marissa did still come back for the evening session to swim in the 200 freestyle relay.  We aren't sure of her splits because the timing pad wasn't working correctly, but the relay team would finish 2nd in their heat - 10th place overall - and that relay missed the school record by just a half of a second so she seemed to be a bit more excited after the evening session.

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On Thursday night, after the sessions were complete for the first day, Marissa texted to tell us that she would be swimming in the 200 individual freestyle during the first session on Friday.  Since she hasn't swam the 200 regularly since her sophomore year in high school, she considers it one of her "weaker" events so she said that she would understand if I decided not to come up on Friday as I had originally planned to do.  Maybe I should just wait for one of her better events on Saturday?  Obviously, we always want her to swim to the best of her ability and to feel good about how she swims, but we would never come to an event or not come to an event based upon her performance or how we think that she should place.  She wasn't going to talk me out of coming, no matter how hard she tried.  LOL 

So on Friday morning, I dropped Nolan off at school at 7:30 and then I made the drive up to Grand Rapids and arrived on the Calvin University campus just in time to watch Marissa come out to the "ready area" with her other teammates in preparation for the 200 preliminaries.  

Despite the fact that she had told me not to come, she still started scanning the stands from the deck and I could see that she said to her teammate that she was "looking for her Mom" and then when she saw me, her face just immediately lit up and she started jumping up and down in excitement.  "There's my mom... there's my mom!" and then both girls looked up and started waving to "Marissa's Mom".  LOL  But then it was time to get down to business and to get in the mental space to race, so she would look away and focus on what was about to happen.

She's the girl in the black suit and white swim cap standing back near the chairs - the lane closest to me.

She waited through two heats and then it was her turn to go.

When she touched the wall at the end of the race and looked up, her face was one of complete disbelief as she had just finished 3rd in her heat and finished with a new lifetime PR of 2:01.83.  She just kept looking away and then back at the timing board again as if she was afraid that it would change... but it didn't.  She really did swim a new PR and she would finish in 24th place during the prelims with another provisional "B" National time and a chance to swim in the finals later that night.  

About an hour later, she would come back to swim another 200 freestyle, but this time as part of the 800 freestyle relay.  When she first came out with the relay team, she was really pale and she didn't look very good.  Then she looked up and motioned to me that she had gotten sick seven times after her individual race ended due to lactic acid build-up.  I wasn't sure how she would do, but she still managed to swim a decent split of 2:05 and the team finished 1st in their heat with a 9th place overall finish.  Overall, Marissa was very happy with the morning session.

The first relay leg is in the water and Marissa is standing straight up behind the starting blocks in lane 5.  She is wearing the white cap with the red wildcat on the side, patiently waiting for her turn to swim.

And then up on the blocks....

Marissa started her leg in 3rd place and finished her leg in 2nd place.  The next two swimmers would continue to make up ground and they would finished 1st in their heat.

'Cheering the next swimmers on to victory...

I was able to talk to her and hug her for a few minutes after the session ended, but the coach urged them to load up on the bus quickly as they would need to go back to their hotel to eat lunch and to take time to study and nap as needed.  (They have final exams as soon as they get back from this trip).  So once Marissa had loaded up on the bus, I left and went to grab lunch and then check in at the hotel where I would be staying for the night.

I had cashed in some reward points to get this room and I have to say, it was a really nice room.  When I walked in, I had to put my key card into a sensor on the side of the wall and as soon as I did, the lights and tv came on and the blinds came down.

And the tv came on to a welcome message to welcome me personally to my room.  'Nice touch for sure!

Since I had almost three hours before Marissa would swim again in the evening session, I decided to just enjoy some quiet time in the hotel.  I turned up the thermostat and buried myself under a warm blanket and finished one of the books that I had brought along on the trip.  (I would finish a second book the next day, which never happens!)

When Marissa asked me what I was going to do all afternoon, I sent this picture to her to prove that I would be perfectly fine by myself in a quiet room.  LOL

She sent me these two pictures back to prove to me that she was having a perfectly "unquiet" time with her teammates.  LOL

Soon enough, it was time to head back to the natatorium for the evening session.  Marissa would be swimming in the second heat of the individual 200 freestyle.  I only took one picture at the end of the night, but she swam another great race and finished 23rd overall with a time of 2:02.61.  (Her second fastest time ever in that event).  Once again I was able to wait for her in the lobby at the end of the session and we were able to talk together again for a few minutes before they headed back to the hotel and prepared to do it all again on Saturday.

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After sleeping in (a little bit) on Saturday morning, I checked out of the hotel room and made the drive across town to the natatorium once again where the team was finishing up with their warm-ups and getting dressed into their tech suits.  After a few minutes, they were all back out on deck and ready to do their team cheer.

  Marissa would be swimming the individual 100 freestyle in Saturday's preliminary session.  Once again, she came on to the deck looking for me and as soon as she saw me, she gave me a big smile and a wave and then she settled in with her game face and got ready to go.  Less than a minute later, the race was over and Marissa had swam another incredible race, finishing with a time of 54.7, which is her second fastest time ever in this event!!  (Her only time faster was last year at the end of the year when she won the sectional championships).  She looked up at her time in disbelief and got out of the pool with the biggest smile on her face.  She's not guaranteed a spot in the national championships, but once again, she swam the required time and qualified for a chance at Nationals.  Now we just have to wait to see if she can either improve on that time in future meets, or get an invite to the National meet in March.  No matter what, she is really encouraged with where she is at this point in the season and I'm so happy for her.  The team has been working so hard since September and it's such a blessing to see that work paying off for Marissa and the entire team at the half-way point in the season.

In this series of pictures, Marissa is right in the middle wearing a white cap and adjusting her goggles.

And then double checking her swim cap and goggles again.

With that great swim, she guaranteed a spot in the evening's finals, so I ran out to grab some lunch.  Then, since I had already checked out of my hotel room, I brought it back to the natatorium lobby and then I took my lunch and a book to a quiet corner where I would spend the next four hours in between sessions. 

My view for the afternoon:

I must admit, although I went to the meet without any expectations of spending much time with Marissa, we both thought that she would be able to come out and visit with me after lunch in between sessions; especially since they also had to spend the afternoon at the natatorium and wouldn't be going back to a hotel room.  So we were both a little disappointed when Marissa finished eating with the team and came out of the room to throw away her trash and the coach whispered to her, "I'll pretend that I don't see you out here so that you can have a couple of minutes with your Mom.  But then you need to go back to the team".  (He would do the same for each and every swimmer who made their way out to their parents at any point that afternoon).  We were thankful for even those short minutes however, talking for a couple of minutes, taking a quick selfie (which she hates LOL) and then she went back inside the room with everyone else and took a nap.  (I did feel badly for some of the parents who had flown into the meet from across the country and weren't able to really even talk to their kiddos).

A couple of hours later, they were back up and headed back to the pool for warm-ups and then the weekend's final session began.

Marissa would come back to swim her individual 100 and would pick up one place finishing in 31st place with a final time of 55.07, which was a little slower than the mornings session, but she said that she was happy with that time anyway.  

And then the girls were back for the finals of the 400 freestyle relay.  They would finish out that race with a 4th place finish in their heat and a 12th place finish overall.  

Laughing off the pre-race jitters.

The meet ended right about 8:30 so all of the parents waited out in the lobby for their swimmers to come upstairs.  Then we were able to talk with them for a few final minutes before giving hugs and saying our good-byes as they went to their bus.   

I am so thankful that I was able to take some time away and to go up and watch her swim.  And I'm also thankful knowing that she will be home for Christmas break in just a few short days.