Invitationals are the season finals for the Gaithersburg-Germantown Swim League. AJ qualified for the fastest heats of 4 individual races and was also on a relay team.
Teammates decorated our driveway to cheer on AJ!
Warmups! This is half of the swimmers - warmups were divided into two 15-minute sessions. There were probably over 200 swimmers in attendance between the 8 teams. Our team had about 25 kids qualify for races.
The stroke and turn judges are apparently very strict at the league finals. AJ had all perfect races (no disqualifications). Some kids in his heats were DQ'd.
Fastest heat of 8 and under boys 25M freestyle. AJ came in 5th!
Fastest heat of 8 and under boys 25M backstroke. AJ was awarded 2nd!
Fastest heat of 8 and under boys 25M breaststroke. AJ came in 1st! League champion!
Fastest heat of 8 and under boys 25M butterfly. AJ came in 6th!
Boys graduated age relay, meaning one kid from each age category makes up the relay team. AJ kicks off the first lap of the relay. Their team came in 6th.
Swim Meet - Invitationals
Swim Team Party and Trophies
AJ and his friend Aiden...
...comparing personal best swim times
AJ was named MVP for the 8 & under boys
The full lineup of MVPs
Swim Meet 5
AJ forgot his goggles this meet. That didn't hinder his performance at all. In fact, he shattered his own personal best time in butterfly!
Anna only did one race. She was still recovering from having the flu this week.
This was probably the girls last official meet of the season. The final meet is the regional league finals - it is by invitation only (top two swimmers per team per event), and it doesn't include the 6 & under category.
AJ Freestyle (middle lane)
Lia Kickboard Lane 3 (middle)
Anna Kickboard Lane 5 (far right)
Lia Freestyle Lane 5 (far right, no Anna for this race, she sat out because she wasn't feeling well)
AJ Breaststroke (middle lane)
AJ Butterfly (middle lane)
AJ first leg relay (middle lane, the team came in first!)
Swim Meet 4
This was an evening meet, and the pool had lights (which AJ thought was super cool for his later races). The opposing team didn't have any 8 and under boys, so AJ competed against only his own teammates for every race.
Lia in Lane 1, Anna in Lane 3
AJ Freestyle - in middle lane (1st place)
Lia Kickboard - in far right lane (2nd place)
Anna Kickboard - in far left lane (1st in heat but 4th overall)
AJ Backstroke (1st place)
Lia in Lane 1, Anna in Lane 3 (this was 2nd heat; Lia 3rd overall, Anna 4th)
AJ Breaststroke (was awarded 2nd, not 1st, because he took two full strokes underwater at the start)
Lansdowne Resort
1st Panoramic photo on iphone. Came out a little funny if you look at Lia.
