By: Yimo Liu
On July 27, 2023, a swimming meet had begun. It was the Far Western Championships, hosted by the Terrapins Swim Team in Concord, California.
The Far Westerns meet was basically a regular swimming meet, except that you must have a specific minimum time to enter an event. For example, you swim a 50 meter freestyle, and your time is 33.0 seconds, then you can enter the Far Western freestyle event. If you want to compete in all of the events in the meet, you must be below the cut-off times for them. However, this is not the case for the relays: the 200 meter freestyle relay and the 200 meter medley relay.
My age group was called the 10 & Under. I entered the two 10 & Under relays on Saturday and Sunday. I was in the swimming team called Milpitas Aquatics Club (MAC). The other 3 girls on my relay team were Elena, Charlotte, and Zixin.
On Saturday, July 29, 2023, we were standing behind the diving blocks in the late afternoon. It was the finals and time for the relays. Our event was Event 93, the 10 & Under girls 200 medley relay. We were Heat 1, Lane 3. Elena would be swimming the backstroke, Zixin swimming the breaststroke, Charlotte swimming the butterfly, and I would be swimming freestyle.
As the referee blew the long whistle, Elena and all the other backstrokers jumped in the pool. Before I even knew it, the race had begun. The pool was a 50 meter pool, so Zixin and I waited on the other end of the pool. “Good luck,” I said to Zixin.
Right when Elena touched the wall, Zixin dove in. Elena quickly climbed out. Zixin’s breaststroke was extra-fast. She touched the wall before you could finish blinking. Charlotte dove in after that. I tightened my goggles and stepped onto the blocks.
When Charlotte touched the wall, I quickly swung my arms and dove in. I dolphin-kicked a few times before I reached the surface of the water. I tried my best to hold my breath. I kicked as hard as I could and pushed my arms through the water. At last, I touched the wall and gave our relay team a total time of 2:33.89. We finished fourth.
The four of us walked to the coaches’ tent to know our split times. My time was 36 flat.
The next day was time for the 200 meter freestyle relay. Zixin would go first, Elena second, Charlotte third, and I would go last. In the beginning of the race, Zixin and Elena gave us a great lead. Charlotte kept it going for our team. When it was my turn, two people caught up with me and passed me. We finished third and got a medal. Our time was 2:14.58. That definitely made this the best summer ever!