Daniel finished his high school swimming career today. In many ways, it was a bittersweet moment. Particularly over this last year, it has taken a toll on him, sapping him of every ounce of energy, every extra minute of sleep, and every ounce of body fat that he could muster. From that perspective, it will be good to have it over so he can get more rest and not feel so tired. But it has also been a major part of his life (and ours) for the past four years and its sad to see it come to an end. He has struggled this past year to find the motivation, but he stuck with it and saw his team (both the boys and the girls) win the 2010 Region 1 Title by a significant margin. His relay teams (the medley relay and the 200-yard freestyle relay) qualified to swim at the state meet at BYU, which was held yesterday and today. (It seems like a long way to drive [both days] to watch him swim for 23 seconds each day, but it was so much fun to watch him in such stiff competition and do so well.) Becky even had a tear in her eye as he finished his last race.
On both days, he had incredible relay legs: inheriting a significant deficit and bringing his team to 4th place in their heat in the medley relay, and giving his team a sizable lead in the 200-yard relay. (In the end, they lost the heat of the 200-yard relay by 1 second, a significant achievement given that they lost to the 1st seeded team in their heat, to their 6th place seed.) I couldn't have been more proud of what he did yesterday and today, and what he's accomplished over the past four years.
A couple of comments about this video:
1) I included a lot of the pre-race video as the announcer was announcing each of the teams. The tension in the room is palpable...this is what everyone has been training for all year....and you can see how nervous they are as they adjust caps, goggles, jump, wiggle...anything to work through the jitters. (Or maybe its my jitters as I wait for his race to begin.)
2) As the first swimmer gets up on the block, watch as Daniel and his teammates assume an archer's pose, as if they are shooting the first swimmer off the block and giving him an extra "boost".
3) Not only do they maintain a lead through most of the race, I love to hear the announcer noting the Viewmont team's early lead (but what he didn't note was that the swimmer that got that lead was Daniel!). Daniel is the second swimmer off the block.
Way to go, Daniel! We're proud!
2 comments:
Good job Daniel! Mike and I just watched this and it was very exciting. There was a huge lead by the time Daniel was done with his leg!!
I'm such a proud auntie! Just hearing "Daniel Sanders" announced makes me teary eyed! He carries on our name well! Congrats!
I felt that same bittersweetness this week with Rachel's musical.
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