REGION CHAMPIONS. 'nough said.

On August 23, in my 4th period swim conditioning class- we made goals. “Drop a second on my 50, be able to do a bucket turn, get my 100 back down to a 1:15, etc.” But a goal that every single girl said was to “become region champions. We want a banner!”

The woods cross girls have never won region before. Boys have, back in the 80s and 90s- but girls have NEVER had won. This year, we had the best team that woods cross ever had! There was another high school, Olympus, who was also EXTREMELY good. These people have been our rivalrys all year. (when we swam them- we actually tied. ha! besides that- wx girls were undeafeated.) We all dropped times, and we all worked super hard. On Friday, 21st, was the region champion meet.

side note. We had an assembly on Thursday, and all of the officers talked about the WX vs. BOUNTIFUL basketball game that was on Friday. but since we were going to be at the meet all day on Friday, all of the swimmers dressed in their Sunday best for Thursday. get it? well- the officers didn’t even announce that we had region the next day. when we asked them why they didn’t- they replied that swimming was “a stupid sport.” that shows how much recognition the swim team gets at our high school. (hahah, and then at the basketball game.. wx lost. ironic.)

On Thursday night- we all got together for our traditional swim dinner at the Millwards house. Boys- who were daring enough (considering that the Prom is today) - shaved their heads. (It’s been custom FOREVER to shave heads the night before region.) We all ate a bunch of pasta, and we got a motivational speech from our coach- Dale. He pulled all of the girls aside and gave us a piece of paper and told us he wanted us to write down our goal times for tomorrows meet. We each did, then put the papers in our sweat pockets. We were to sleep with these papers and to think about our times consistently until the meet was over.

The next morning we woke up at meet at the rec center by 8am. Tension was high. I literally had shaky hands from the second I woke up. IT ALL COMES DOWN TO TODAY! we got in the pool and did our 1,300 yard warm-up in the pool. When time was up, we got out- put on our deck coats- and walked upstairs to stretch. Dale walked in and required that it be completely silent for the next half hour as we stretched and visualized. he turned off the lights and we all got mentally prepared for this meet. it was a big deal- trust me. Then gave us another motivational speech, and I’ve never been more excited/nervous to swim before in my whole life. The pressure was on!!

we walked down to the competition pool and I got ready for the 200 medley relay. my next event was the 200 Individual medley.
during the 50 free, one of my best friends, Kaitie Jowers, broke the school record. She had broken it last year at the state meet, by .01 of a second. last year the record hadn’t been broken for 13 years. she hadn’t been able to get her time down to a 26.01 for awhile- but lo and behold- she broke her own record again! 25.55 seconds! I’m sure the fast skin technical suit worked in her favor though as well. What was her goal time- you ask? 25.83. she blew it out of the water! Then we had the 100 Backstroke record broke for the second time this year by my Coaches daughter-
Alexis Ralph. Did I mention Alexis is a freshman and she broke a record that hasn’t been touched for 16 years? That’s longer than she’s even been alive!
We also broke the 200 Freestyle relay. Congrats to Avery Hansen, Lexi Stader, Alexis Ralph, and Kaitie Jowers. it was broken by nearly 2 seconds. which is a lot when you in the “competitive swimming” word.

Between Olympus and Woods Cross- our points were about even the whole time. but towards the end- they weren’t telling us who was in the lead. All we knew, was that we had to swim hard and fast. I had the pressure on my 200 free relay and in my 100 breast. I had a good 100 breast and I got us some points.

After the meet ended, everybody was crazy estatic! we had to of won! we still didn’t know what the points ended up being- but how could we have lost to Olympus? We had just won every single on of the last 7 events! all of the girls went down on the deck- waiting with anticipation. we told dale to take out his phone from his pocket, and we all got ready for a victory lap if we ended up winning.
the announcer came on and started announcing points. (out of 7 high schools) 2nd place: olympus high school girls with 396 points. 1st place: woods cross high school girls wth 492 points. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we hadn’t just won- but we won my almost 100 points!!!!!!!

all of the girls jumped in the water, dragging Coach Dale in with us. it was amazing. and pretty emotional. our hard work had finally paid off! the number one goal that all of the girls had worked for all year long- was completed. woods cross high school girls swim team was region champions. for the first time. ever.

Now, we finally get a banners! not just one, but two. One in the rec center hanging in the compition pool right above the woods cross record board. and one in the woods cross gym with all of the other sports that have become region champions. 2 brand new- never been hung- banners.

finally. some recognition from our school.

Mr. Park-our new principal this year, who has come to every single meet, came over and congradualted us. we thanked him with a group hug and he was soon covered in chlorine water. we received our trophy, and Mr. Park asked if it would be ok if he presented it to us at the wx/bountiful basketball game that night. YAYY!! that also brought emotions flairing. we would get some limelight for our hard work at the biggest basketball game in the state!

after a victory celebration at Chuck-a-rama, (it’s tradition) and an eventful basketball game- all of the girls gathered over at Kaitie Jowers house for a sleepover.

overall- a very successful swim season. I didn’t qualify for state in any of my events, even though I was very close in my 100 back and my 100 breast.

I love woods cross swim team.

especially the girls