Sunday, October 20, 2024

When the Saints go marching in

It's Saturday morning, and you know what that means - it means that I'm in the passenger seat of my husband's ride on my way to Marymount University for the second swim meet of the 24-25 season. I'm psyched. 

Last week's season opener was something of an exhibition meet. A friendly, if you will. The men's team swam against Duke, losing by about 150 points, as expected since Duke is a D1 team. But it was closer in the water than on paper, with lots of very exciting races. Marymount showed up for that meet. The Saints went marching in, and they left the Duke boys with something to think about.

There were a handful of Duke parents in the Lee Center. I'm sure that the DMV provides a good number of Duke's swimmers so it was an easy location for parents to see a meet. They all seemed nice but they were very very easy to spot. They looked like people whose children go to Duke. 

My son swam two personal best times in that meet, in 100 breast and in the 200 medley relay. His relay split beat a Duke swimmer’s split. 

*****

Today is Seagulls vs Saints, with Salisbury visiting Marymount. It's 11:42 and we're here in our seats in the Lee Center pool, waiting for the start at noon. LFG as the people say on the Internet. LFG. 

*****

Holy cow that was fun. Marymount got clobbered again (this season is not off to a great start) but Salisbury is a famously good D3 team, with a roster of 65 swimmers to Marymount’s 28. There was very little chance of a win against the Seagulls, and so every good race was a gift. 

And at least on the boys’ side (the girls’ team had five seniors last year and they’re hurting a bit this year), there were quite a few good races, and the meet was once again closer in the water than on paper. We had a win in 50 free and a 1-2 finish in 100 fly. My son picked up a second place finish in a very competitive 200 breast that his coach called the race of the meet, and a third place in an also very competitive 100 breast, just slightly off his all-time best time. 

The stands at the Lee Center were packed. Salisbury came out for this meet, and so did Marymount. We got there early enough to get our favorite spot on the bleachers, at the top with the wall behind us, so with our bleacher cushions we were very comfortable. The social media person was next to me with her iPad and I’m afraid that I messed up her audio with my constant yelling but I was not the only one and if I hadn’t been yelling “GOOOOOOO!” right in her ear, someone else would have been. I’m a quiet person as a rule, but not at a hockey game and absolutely not at a swim meet. I was hoarse for the rest of the day after that meet, which is as it should be. Let’s go Saints. 


No comments:

Post a Comment