NAIA hosted their National Swimming Championships this week in Elkhart, IN.
This year, Marissa had the honor of earning a spot on IWU's National team as a relay swimmer. (Although we are all super excited that she had this opportunity, we were a little sad that the event would take place over her spring break and she wouldn't be able to come home at all.) But mostly we were just super excited for her as this has been a goal of hers since she was a senior in high school and going through the recruiting process.
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After having their last official practice in their home pool, the team kicked off the week's festivities by having a team dinner at the Bledsoe's house on Monday night and I heard that there was a lot of wonderful food. Thank you so much to the Bledsoe family for looking out for our swimmers and diver once again.
Then on Tuesday morning, the athletic department called the team together and prayed over them before they headed out. They would arrive in Elkhart later that afternoon in time to have one last shake out swim and then they would check into their hotel where they could change and get ready for the National banquet, which would be hosted later that evening.
And a picture of the National team swimmers as they finished their last official practice of the 25-26 season. Congratulations guys. It was a really long and difficult season and we are so proud of all of you!
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I'm not quite sure
when this dinner video was taken, but Marissa sent it to us to show us the silliness that happens when they all get together.
Marissa was on the schedule to swim in the 200 freestyle relay on Thursday night, so as soon as Nolan got out of school, we drove up to the natatorium and watched the event finals.
They had a young swimmer from Milligan University play the National Anthem on his saxophone, which I'm told was a first. He did a really nice job and then he changed into his suit and went out to compete.
'Such a beautiful facility and an amazing place to host such an event.
When we arrived, Marissa had just finished warming up and was getting ready to eat and rest as her event would be the last girls' event of the night. She saw us come in and gave us a smile and a thumbs up.
And about 45 minutes later, she would go into the locker room to get dressed into her tech suit and to get mentally ready for the relay. (There may have been a little more eating as well. LOL)
Due to NAIA rules, only one swimmer is allowed to compete on the relays unless they have qualified in an individual event. Two of our relay girls had bids in individual events so they knew that they had guaranteed their spot, but despite meeting the "B" standard times, neither Marissa nor Tristan had fast enough times to qualify in their individual events and to meet that rule. Marissa had faster times in all of her events from the conference meet, so thankfully she was chosen as our "extra" relay swimmer.
But again, due to those new and confusing rules, the relay that actually swam the qualifying time all through the season and was seeded 10th at this event was not able to compete and Tristan was replaced by another girl from our team who normally swims the backstroke. The girls would swim well considering, but unfortunately they would finish in 14th place on the night with a time about two seconds slower. Marissa had a strong second leg for the team however so she was definitely pleased with that result. It also wasn't lost on her that this would be the last time that she would be swimming with the seniors, which made the evening extra bittersweet. As I mentioned previously, it was a really long and difficult season filled with injury and emotional battles, probably her hardest season yet, but she definitely kept working and fighting and ended the season strong! We are so proud of her. (We are proud of the whole team really)
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The team's photographer captured these great shots of Marissa up on the starting blocks as she was making final adjustments to her goggles and getting ready to dive in...
And now with her event complete, it's time to sit back and have some fun!!
I am so thankful that we live close enough that we had the opportunity to go and to support her at such an exciting time.
And also thankful that Dawn, Amslie, and Grif also made the drive up to cheer. I know Marissa really appreciated that!!
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Although Marissa didn't swim in any other events, she stayed on deck all through the meet and offered encouragement to all of her teammates -- in the good and the bad.
