We’re State Champions!

It takes one thing to qualify for states; it takes a whole other mentality to be state champions. Through it all, the boys BHS swim and dive team did it. We are the 2019 Class 4A State Champions!

Launch Off

We left school on Thursday at around 11:00am, escorted by a drum line. At this point, we had our superstitions on whether or not we were actually going to win states or not. We knew it was going to be a close one and with some good swims, we could possibly do it. As the clock kept ticking and I finished my daily school and homework for that day, we boarded the bus heading to Richmond for the State meet.

The bus ride there was a mix of both anxiety and fun, riveted with all kinds of music and discussion, truly just enjoying the time we have together. Yet we all couldn’t forget the looming presence of our swims the next day.

Once we got into Richmond, we first went and dropped off our divers for their state meet which was the day of. The divers were a critical piece to our state victory as they gave us an ultimate 48 point head start placing 2nd, 3rd, and 4th overall. And as the day came to a close and all went off to bed, we slept “comfortably” in our lead amongst our competition.

Prelims

We woke up at around 5:45am and hit the road at 6:30am to catch our warmup time at 7:25am. The bus was almost in total silence, everyone was tired but also nervous about what was to come. It was prelims, if we didn’t swim fast enough in prelims, then we would have no chance for winning states and making it back to finals where the real points came in.

We had great swims from across the board with over 14 events making it into finals which ultimately helped us win the state championships.

Finals

In one of the most passionate and intense finals ever, our team pulled through with the races of our lives. Swimmers went best times, broke records and ultimately won medals. It was a close one between our school BHS, and our closest competitor, Lafeyette High School, LHS. We had 15 events make it to finals (8 A finals and 7 B finals) while they had 14 events (10 A finals and 4 B finals). That 1 event extra proved to be critical for our win. As people swam, I crunched the numbers and calculated to see if we could really win the meet. Indeed, the numbers showed that we’d win by an estimated 30 points.

But despite the numbers, the show was still riveting and nerve-wracking. It all came down to a few key swims from the swimmers in 100 Breastroke and our final 400 Free Relay. In the end, we had our swimmers take 2nd and 8th place in the breaststroke and our relay take 3rd overall from its original 6th place, securing our victory! As a team, the BHS swim and dives took state champion with the girls getting runner up!

Reflection

In reflection, being a part of this state team has been one of the proudest moments of my life. To see where all the training and hard work that our team has put into making it this far is just astounding. It just shows that nothing can truly be won individually, rather it’s a team effort with a team mindset that ultimate goals can be obtained. This transfers into the business and workplace as well. Nothing can be accomplished by one sole developer or one sole marketer, rather a team must divvy up the work and must each excel beyond expectations. To unite under one goal, under one vision. Swimming has taught me that tenacity wins overall expectations; it has taught me that hope is alive in a team and that everyone will come together for something bigger than themselves. It’s in swimming that I have felt the most alive, the most riveting moments of my life. And what an epitome to finish off this euphoric season with state champs!