Several hours of lazy lounging preceded the opening events of the meet. A rushed shave sesh at 3pm was followed by a shakeout swim sesh at 4pm. Then it began. Natty’s began promptly at 5pm on Friday March 29th. The team setup underneath the 3m springboards aside Stanford Swim Club. We discovered some hidden tumbling pads which we proceeded to use as floor padding. Our team possessed hands down the best seating in the house but there was one flaw. The warmup lane closest to us generated a monsoon of splashes towards our vicinity. After speaking to a meet official, the lane was closed and the issue was resolved swiftly. The 800 free relay finished before anyone realized. First up was Mason Greenblatt’s 400IM. The timed final concluded in an exhilarating first individual national champion title going to a swimmer representing the maroon and white. Next, the 200 back. My first event. Now I didn’t do well. Jacko Williams, a Navy Seal commander often extolls the virtue of extreme ownership. He teaches men to swallow pride, absorb team mistakes as if they were their own, and never make excuses. Essentially if anything goes wrong it’s your fault. So I won’t make excuses. Normally this is where I would talk about my many excuses for my performance, like how my legs were sore before warmups and how months of fatigue through overtraining were catching up to me (Notice the slight of hand? I just did the very thing I postulated that I’m above doing). I finished with 2:00. I was aiming for sub 1:54. Needless to say, I Didn’t score. I bet you can guess who succeeded me. Nolan in his 200 fly. I remember standing on the side of the pool next to three tall guys who were teammates of the guy seeded to win in lane 5. They were hyping their guy up like he had no competition. Before the officials blew the whistle, I told them “make sure to watch lane 3 he will win”. They didn’t believe me. At the midway point their guy was in the lead. At the 150 Nolan had surged far ahead. Another gold for the Aggies. I rubbed my teammates victory in the random’s faces. gg no re EZ. After Nolan was Jarrah Schlosberg’s 200 breast, in which she placed 16th scoring a few points for us. The women then swam the 400 medley relay with a time of 4:20. Nice. To round off the night, Jon, Nolan, Ryan, and I placed 13th in the men’s medley relay by going 3:32. Overall, I left the Ohio State Natatorium extremely proud of my teammates and a little disappointed in myself. This would come to be the theme of the meet. I devoured a tray of pasta and threw my limp exhausted body on the plush hotel mattress.
- Nick Tann