Americana

This will probably be considered "pool blasphemous," but I don't love "B" meets. They are held in the late afternoon/early evening, and it is often very hot. The bugs are usually out. It's hectic making all the things happen that need to happen at that time of day, which is after work, camps, or whatever. And, the elephant in the room... we are just so darn big of a team, that every "B" meet we go to takes a LONG time. A LOOOONG time. 

Am I the only one who thinks he wore that t-shirt just to get in the blog?
Well, it worked. 

Of course, there are lots of good things about "B" meets, too. We get to compete against friends and neighbors at the other local pools. The swimmers get to work on their strokes and try to improve their times to get into the "A" meets or other competitions. Lots of great opportunities for parents to volunteer, hone their craft for the "A" meets, and then relax and socialize with everyone after the meet ends. For example, the starter had to announce an event called the "double-hop, double somersault, freestyle noodle swim"... now that's professional development. 

Noodles and Company

And to be honest, one of my coolest memories as a volunteer was at a "B" meet when I was part of a timing crew that yielded 21 doubles and 2 triples in one lane. It was magical. I wish you could have been there. (Of course, you can revel in the majesty by reading about it in the blog. There's even photo evidence.) 

So, yes, a lot of fun and important stuff happens at "B" meets, but still... I don't love them. But I did love this one on Monday. Why? It was relatively short. It wasn't too crowded. And it seemed that everyone had fun. This was a unique "B" meet for several reasons. First, it was just IM (that's Individual Medley, in case you are new here) for most of the team and butterfly only for the 8 & unders. And then we threw in a few fun non-standard relays which got people laughing and trying some new things out. Also, this one was a "one-team" meet. We swam against ourselves. Kids were having fun and goofing around on deck, goofing around during races, and really goofing around during the relays. It felt like what a summer swim event would feel like in a Normal Rockwell painting. Summer fun at the pool. We've got our Fourth of July celebration coming up this weekend, and that always makes me feel like we're living in that Rockwell Americana world, too. Just like this meet. This is the stuff summer time at the pool is meant to be and the memories we want to have. And did I mention that it was short? 

It's hard to be more Americana than having a former Gator, now coach, 
singing the National Anthem. O' say can you Gator...

I'm not trying to stop us from having "B" meets. But... I am here to say that I don't necessarily think it is a bad thing when we have meets just amongst ourselves. Like this one. And like the Green & White meet coming up next week. And like the Romp in the Swamp coming up at the end of the season. 

Cutting time with a chainsaw. (He cut a lot.)

So, how about the Gator IM Meet? The swimmers swam and had fun. Elizabeth Miller dropped her Fly time in the 25m 8&under event by over FIVE seconds. A relaxed atmosphere can have that type of positive impact. Andrew Wiggers cut nearly EIGHT seconds off his IM in the 9-10 Boys event. Also, relaxed. Kate Barber relaxed her way to a 3.39 second drop off her IM for the 9-10 Girls. And 11-12 Boys Evan Pribble, Anthony Sarro, and Noah Litonjua chilled out dropping 1, 2, and 3 seconds respectively off their 100 IMs. 

Of course she "cut" time (insert Barber pun here). 

While we do have the complete results from the Fly and IMs (posted here), regretfully, we don't have all the stats on the evening's relays. And really, we're not completely sure what happened. We do know that there were a few events required the use of swim noodles in one capacity or another. And there really was a "double-hop, double somersault, freestyle noodle swim" that the starter had to announce, AND the swimmers had to relay. Though we don't have times, we do have pictures, so in addition to the ones here in the blog, be sure to check out the lot of them on the Gator site here.  

Not sure if this is a hop or a somersault...

...but this is definitely a somersault.
The relays resulted in a few angles we don't normally see in the pool. 

I mentioned before, as I'm sure everyone knows, Fourth of July weekend is upon us and is always one of the best times of the summer at MVP. Be sure to come check it out, relax, and have some good old fashion fun Americana-style. 

Notably, she did not DQ! Apparently this is the legal, but underutilized
fifth stroke of the IM, the "Glamour Stroke."

Our "A" meet this week is away at the Wakefield Chapel "Wahoos." It is likely going to be a close matchup against a team we haven't swam against in quite a few years. Be sure to check back here later for the results and rundown on the blog. 

McKayla Maroney does not approve of blog humor.