End-of-Season Swim Meet

On Saturday, August 21, Ryan participated in the last swim meet of the summer. It was held at the Layton Surf & Swim, and as with the rest of our summer, we woke up at 6:00 am to be there for warm-ups around 7:00 am. The meet started at 8:00 am.

Ryan swam four events – backstroke, butterfly, freestyle, and breaststroke. This was only the second time that he competed in breaststroke. He did great in all of his events!

Backstroke: Getting started…Approaching the finish (that's his arm coming out of the water "like Percy Jackson")…The board showing him (lane 3) in FIRST PLACE!I have to admit that I almost missed the butterfly. About three events before, I ran to the little girls’ room. Apparently there was only one girl in that butterfly event, so they combined two events, moving Ryan’s event up. As I was walking back toward the pool, mom told me what happened. I ran over to watch him FINISH IN FIRST PLACE!!! I was in such a rush to hug him that I didn’t take any pictures!

We have chuckled about an interview that Michael Phelps gave after his 8th gold medal win in Beijing. He is also the son of a single mom, and they have both talked about their close relationship. The interviewer asked him what his first thoughts were when he realized he won his 8th gold medal, surpassing the record of Mark Spitz. He said, “I was just looking for my mom!”

The butterfly is Ryan’s best stroke. I’ve mentioned before on the blog that his coach even calls him “Fly Man.” But he’s never won first place. When he realized he had won first place, he said, “I was just looking for my mom!” Luckily, at that moment, I was running on the deck (shhh-don’t tell the lifeguard!) to hug him and congratulate him. He said that at the time he was looking for me, he saw me running toward him. Hopefully that’s the first of many wins where his first thought is looking for his mom!

Freestyle: Lining up…Getting set. Look at that form!Breaststroke: Lining up…Look at that clean entry! Not a splash!The board showing him (lane 4) in third place! Not bad for the second time he’s competed in this event! That night, the team had the end-of-season party. We actually decided not to go. It had been an early morning, and we were exhausted. We grabbed some frozen yogurt (with his gift card from the coloring contest) and went home to chill. The next week when we went to swim team practice, his coach said, “Did Ryan get his trophy?” Trophy? The coaches voted Ryan the “most improved swimmer” on the team! Yes, considering that last year was his first meet after being on the team for a week, and that he placed something like 17th in his events, he has come a long way! From 17th place to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd isn’t bad at all!