DAY 2
Our crew of chaperones Lisa Cogswell and Debbie Morrison prepared breakfast in the hotel rooms via microwave, toaster, and electric griddle. The team set off for the pool at 6:45 AM for Day 1 of competition. Nina Morrison, Mitchell Johnson, Kirsten Justice and Mikayla Ranslem swam the 100 butterfly with Mikayla and Kirsten each dropping a half second. Nicole Antoniuk dropped 3.2 seconds in the 200 Breaststroke and Stephanie Poleman dropped time in the 50 back. Rebekah Haw dropped 7 seconds in the 1650. Cole Cogswell was the first finalist of the meet making it back for the finals seeded 8th. In finals he dropped 2.5 seconds off his best time to take 6th place overall.

DAY 3
The older boys thought they could do breakfast better, so, led by Iron Chef Connor Mita, they awoke extra early to assist with breakfast duties. Whatever they put in those breakfast burritos worked because the team had some great swims. Day 2 competition saw Rebekah, Emma, Mikayla, and Cole swim the 200 IM with Mikayla dropping 3.5 seconds and Cole shaving off 1 second. Derek Chang swam the 50 back. Mitchell swam the 50 fly. Matt and Jaryd swam the 1650 free. Matt dropped 20 seconds while Jaryd dropped 23 seconds. Rebekah, Nina, Austin, and Cole swam the 100 free. Austin and Nina dropped a half second, while Cole dropped 1.2 seconds. NinaÕs time made her the second Canyons finalist of the meet. She went in to finals seeded 4th. In finals she dropped again and finished 5th overall. Day 3 concluded with a Pasta dinner at the hotel, and our talent competition. Jaryd Matt and Mitchell showed us their comedic skills. Nicole and Kirsten showcased a somewhat disjointed vocal and dance routine, while Connor, Cole and Coach J put on a magical performance. Cole went to bed only to find the entire team in his newly decorated room for his surprise birthday party. 12 cans of silly strings, and a chocolate cream pie to the face make for a 10th birthday party he won't soon forget!

DAY 4
Day 3 of competition saw Nina swim the 100 IM and Rebekah, Stephanie, Austin, and Cole swim the 100 back. Nicole dropped .16 off her 50 breast time. Rebekah and Nina swam the 1000 free with Nina dropping 30 seconds. Nina, Megan, Mitchell, Connor and Cole swam the 500 free with Cole dropped 1.2 seconds off of his team record and made it back to finals as the 8th seed. In finals, Cole dropped an amazing 11.95 seconds off of the team record finishing 6th with a new team record of 5:52.93...as a 9 year old. After finals, the team went to eat pizza, and see the new swimming movie "Pride" Upon arrival at the hotel we had a team meeting and watched some of the world record swims from the World Championships. Apparently while we were in our meeting, the Easter Bunny paid a visit and left cash and candy laden Easter eggs throughout the rooms.

DAY 5
The final day of competition began with Mikayla and Cole swimming the 50 fly. Nicole swam the 100 breast and Kirsten and Matt swimming the 200 fly. Kirsten dropped a half second. Nina, Cole, and Austin swam the 50 free. Nina dropped a half second off her time and qualified for finals tied for 7th. She finished the evening final in 8th.

Performances of the meet

This trip was a great learning experience for all involved. Hydration, nutrition, managing relationships with teammates confined together for 5 days. Acceptable routines between prelims and finals. Proper warm-up and warm-down. Warm-up pacing. Personal responsibility. The list goes on. There was so much more to the learning experience at this meet than swimming. Every single one of us is better for it.

- Coach Jay

Click HERE to see meet results as well as the green and gold reports for this meet.