The boys had their last Stingray meet on Saturday. It was a great way to end the season as they both qualified for the final 'A' meet (only Joshua qualified for the previous 'A' meets, in backstroke) which was at our home pool, and which we won! Joshua swam free and back and Daniel swam back. While Joshua had a fantastic 'B' meet on Wednesday night, taking off 4 seconds in freestyle and ending up 3rd in free, 2nd in back, and 3rd in butterfly (which he was swimming for the first time!), he felt the pressure on Saturday and did not place in free or back. Daniel, meanwhile, swam a fantastic 50 back in 57:69, taking a second off his previous best time, which he hadn't come close to all season. He had a big adjustment this year, moving up to 50m events and swimming against kids almost 2 years older than him, which is a huge difference physically in the 9/10 age group.
They will both have an easier time next year as they'll be at the top of their age groups. In fact, Joshua, having a late birthday, could actually stay in the 7/8 age group for two more years! A couple of kids that are in Daniel's grade swam 7/8 because of their summer birthdays. So Joshua was basically swimming against kids Daniel's age! Tough, but that's the way it is.
Finally, there are some pictures of Joshua. They're all from the early meets because he wouldn't wear a swim cap until he started believing it would make him faster!
