St. George Invitational Swim Meet

Adam and his swim buddies: Jared, Jessica and Samantha

Adam in mid-dive starting his 500 yard freestyle

Stroke, baby, stroke!

At the end of his lane his friends were cheering him on and posting his lap numbers underwater so he'd know how long he had to go. Trent in bathrobe, Sam posting, Jared whistling, Jessica yelling encouragement.

Adam has always been a lean kid, but now he's a lean kid with well defined muscles. He swims every day before school and every day after school.

And his coaches just advised the team that now that the "fun" St. George meet was over, they were really going to kick in the conditioning. This whole swim venture has been a wonderful, healthy thing for Adam.

Adam coming up on lap 17 getting ready to do a flip turn.

Sam showing me the welcome orange blocks, letting the swimmer know he's on his LAST lap.

Right after his 500, Adam was also slated to be the first leg of the 200 freestyle relay. I know it's hard to see, but he's the middle swimmer in mid dive.

Adam and I just got back from an invitational swim meet last weekend. On their way down to St. George, they stopped off the road a little ways to Richfield, where they had an addl swim meet with the local team there. Because our school is bigger, we had our first year swimmers compete against Richfield's varsity team. At Adam's home meets I have started to officiate -- which gets you the very best of 'seats' -- but at these other meets I have finally had the opportunity to catch him on film because I wasn't "on duty." He's been training very hard since last June and the payoffs are already beginning. He swam with the top 12 swimmers and came in 1st in his heat in the 50 yard freestyle race. Fifty yards is once up and back. He also raced for his first time in the 500 freestyle!!! It was a little overwhelming to him, but he did great. Five hundred is racing 10 times up and back. All the pictures are from the smaller Richfield meet. St. George hosted 15 schools and it was absolutely crazy. I will never attend again without some kind of ear protection. Adam raced in the 400 yard freestyle relay and the 100 yard backstroke.

If you'd like to see the video of Adam racing the 50 yard freestyle in Richfield, just click the title and it should take you straight to YouTube and his video will start.