by Christopher SmithOn Saturday, November 3, a small group of swimmers stole away to the Land of the Bruins and represented our team at the UCLA Bruin Masters Short Course Meters meet. What I expected to be a cold, somewhat stressful, and lonely competition turned out to be quite a bright, relaxed, and sociable one.
The weather was beautiful as I entered the familiar swimming complex at the Student Activities Center (formerly the Men's Gym). I set up shop in the back corner after figuring out what should be a healthy balance between solitude, shade, and warm rays which I anticipated would last through the day. Expecting to be alone for the day, I came equipped with my iPod which I instantly turned on for warm-up motivation. Within 10 minutes, I found WH2O teammates Gregg Ogorzelec, Adam Davis, Tamara Draper, and Grady Harmon. No need for that iPod! We quickly formed a 200 Meter Freestyle Relay and ended up winning our 120-159 age group.
The meet was casual and comfortable. In gearing up for Regionals, most of us agreed we were essentially attending to gauge our mid-season progress. And to have a good time, of course. Gregg and Adam spent the morning warming up,
swimming, and recovering from what I (a devout sprinter) consider the most
grueling event, the 800M Freestyle. Grady, Tamara, and I swam the ever-popular
sprint freestyle events. Grady topped his day off with a nice 200M Free, while
Tamara dabbled in a 50M Butterfly and I attempted the 100M and 200M IM's. After all, we had to try out our new techniques after all of that stroke work these past weeks!
Though our team was small, the camaraderie echoed that which I experienced at Nationals in Washington this past May. The Bruin Meet ended up confirming not only that even L.A. weather is unpredictable, but more so my belief that our team consists of unique and supportive individuals who share a real passion for the water. Congrats to everyone who made it out!
