The day was Tuesday, I was sitting in the scorching sun, waiting to see if I made the finals. This summer I got to go to the beach for a really big meet for summer swimming called Conferences! If you make the top sixteen then you get to go to finals which for everybody was on Thursday. Lucky for me, I made top sixteen in all three of my events, I actually made the top three for every event so I had a really good chance of getting a trophy. The good thing was that I made the top three in everything during prelims and that was when I was wearing a slow swimsuit, and for finals I would be wearing a knee skin which is a really tight swimsuit that goes down to your knees and makes you swim faster because its material is so smooth water slides right off and leaves the suit completely dry.
For people who don’t know what prelims is, it’s like the different parts of a meet, so that not everybody who is swimming at the meet is at the same place and at the same time because if it was like that the meet would take all day when each person only has three events to swim, plus two relays.
Before finals I felt really nervous, what if I don’t get a trophy? I thought, what if I get disqualified? what if I do the same thing I did in prelims for the 50 back today? Earlier that week, during the 50 back in prelims it was extremely windy so the flags were blowing in all different directions, so I ended up way too close to the wall and my flip turn was really slow because my feet got stuck at the wall.
Before my first event, 50 free, I was quivering so much that it was as though there was an earthquake going on. I kept on adjusting my goggles, moving my cap, walking in circles, and jumping up and down before my race.
“Good luck,” Claudia Rapisarda told me.
“You too,” I said back nervously because I knew that Claudia was a freestyler and she would win the 50 free.
Why am I so worried, I just need to calm down and swim my race, I told myself while carefully stepping onto the starting block.
“Take your mark!” the official said through a microphone, BEEP! SPLASH! Seven other swimmers who were on the blocks and I dove into the water! 30 seconds passed, I had finished the 50 free in second place after Claudia!
After I swam 50 free, 50 back, and 50 fly, I went to check the rankings for those three races. I got second in the 50 free, second in 50 fly, and first in 50 back!
For the rest of the day I just sat in my chair and waited to see if I got a trophy.
After an exhausting hour of sitting and doing absolutely nothing which felt like five hours, it was finally time for the trophies!
“In third place,” the official said into a microphone, “actually we don’t have a third place, tied for second Claudia Rapisarda from Lake Isle and Lori Jiang from Scarsdale Town Pool!” I was so excited I thought I was going to faint!
“Who is younger?” the official said,
“I’m turning 11 in two months,” Claudia said.
“I turn 11 in April 2020,” I told them.
“I’m sorry Claudia, but we are going to let Lori take this trophy and we will send another one to your house.”
“OK, sure,” Claudia answered.
“Thank you” Claudia and I thanked the official as we walked out.
“No problem ladies,” the official said.
After that, I’m not really sure who got first because the taxi that was taking us home, was already at the beach and we didn’t want to make him wait. I was so happy that I got a trophy because if I didn’t get one then all of the waiting I did would have been for absolutely nothing.
I got a trophy, I got a trophy, I got a trophy!! I thought in the taxi. Good thing Sunny isn’t here or else she would probably have gotten the trophy instead of me, Sunny is on my all year round swim team, Wolverines, and she is faster than me in the 50 back and 50 fly, so if Sunny did summer swimming that year than she probably would have got the trophy instead of me. Sunny didn’t do summer swimming that year because she only does it when she is at the top of her age group, so 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, and 17 because then there is a better chance of winning.