Long gone were the hours wasted on relaxation. Saturday March 30th was a day dedicated to swimming. Warm ups began at an early 8am. By 10am, teams were already in the water for the preliminaries of the 200 medley relay. The men edged out Stanford by a tenth for the last position in A final. To start the individual events, Alex Remy, CJ Pfeil, Ryan Mcmanus and Nolan finished the preliminaries of their 50 fly. Alex placed just 2 tenths shy of finals, Ryan snuck into B finals, and Nolan spanked the men’s competition with a sub 22. The following showing was 50 free in which 3 men Nolan, Ryan, and Keegan Kittrell, and one woman Alex Remy contended in. Again Alex Remy missed finals by a few tenths and Nolan landed himself a spot in A final. Next was Jarrah, Jon, and Jepp for 100 breast. Jarrah dropped 8 seconds from her seed to grab an outside lane for A final. Jeppesen also posted an all time best of 1:05.58 in his 100 breast. To round off the day 3 prelim individuals, Maria Chanquin, CJ, Emily Smitham, and I tested our speed in the 100 back. Aside from a wedge malfunction on my part, this event turned out to be quite uneventful. The same was true for our 400 free relays. And with the buzzer on Mason’s 1000 free, the finals began. With an average split of 59.1 Mason earned a 5th place finish in a time of 9:50.96. Later Jepp, Ryan, Nolan, and I finished 10th in the 200 medley relay. The men’s 50 fly saw two TAMCS placings, Nolan with another gold and Ryan in 19th. But that wasn’t enough for Nolan. He swam back to back 50s (fly, free) to earn another medal. This time his first and only bronze with a time of 20.87. The evening session concluded with Jarrah’s 9th place 100 breast. We caught an uber to the hotel munched on the same order of pasta. Within the hour for the final time, I crashed my fatigued body on the plush hotel mattress.
- Nick Tann