JOs were a packed 3 days (see also posts for Day One and Day Two), with morning preliminary heats and relays, and then evening finals every day. AJ clocked 1,250 racing yards of swimming in 14 heats over 3 days (and that doesn't include warm up and cool down laps!).
Day Three consisted of morning preliminary heats in the 200y Breaststroke, and the 50y Free, as well as the kickoff leg of the 400 Free Team Relay.
AJ made finals in the 200y Breaststroke event (top 16), and landed 21st in prelims in the 50y Free. In the 200y Breaststroke evening finals, his 14th and last swim of the 3-day meet, he got 15th place overall.
He is in lane 8, at the bottom of the screen.
AJ swam the first leg of the team's 400y Free Relay, and turned in the fastest lead leg time of the heat. He is in lane 4, which is fourth from the left or fourth down from the top of the screen.
AJ's end of short course season "Rookie Year" stats:
- Broke 4 team records in the 11-12 boys bracket (50 Butterfly, 50 Breaststroke, 100 Breaststroke, and 100 IM)
- Hit US Eastern Zones qualifying times, which are faster than the JO qualifying times, in 5 individual events (50 Butterfly, 50 Breaststroke, 200 Breaststroke, 50 Free, and 100 IM)
- Qualified for 10 individual events at the regional JO championship (won't list them all...but as a side note: he swam 4 events the weekend after JOs to try some new 200s for the first time, and would've qualified in 4 more JO events if he competed in those earlier in the season)
- Competed in the maximum of 6 individual entries allowed at the JO meet, and also swam on 4 team relays
- Made 4 individual event finals at JOs (50 Butterfly, 50 Breaststroke, 200 Breaststroke and 100 IM)
- Placed 10th overall at JOs in the 50 Butterfly, 50 Breaststroke and 100 IM; and 15th in 200 Breaststroke
Junior Olympics Day 3
Junior Olympics Day 2
The morning of Day Two consisted of 2 team relays (a 50y anchor leg of a 200 Free Relay, and a 100y backstroke leg of a 400 Medley Relay), as well as preliminary heats for two individual events - the 100y Breaststroke and the 100y IM.
AJ set new team records in both the 100y IM and the 100y Breaststroke. In the 100y Breaststroke, he finished 21st in prelims, so didn't make finals. He qualified for finals in the 100y IM (made top 16 in prelims), and in the evening finals finished in 10th place overall.
He is in lane 6, third up from the bottom.
This is the team walking out to their spot in lane 2 for the 200y Free Relay -- the set of 4 boys in white or gray caps with blue sharks walking out in front of the boys with the all green caps. The kids walk out in the order they swim, so his team is led by the tall boy in white cap with the blue shark who will lead the relay, and then AJ is picking up the tail as the anchor leg.
The team (in lane 2, second from the top) got 5th in their heat for the 200 Free Relay. AJ was anchor, and actually had the 2nd fastest anchor leg split time in the heat for his 50 Free.
Junior Olympics Day 1
Junior Olympics (JO) is a regional championship meet with qualifying time standards. There are 50 teams in our region, with nearly a thousand total registered 11-12 year old boys. For each 11-12-yr-old boys individual event, 80-100 swimmers on average met qualifying times and competed at the JO regional championship. AJ met qualifying times in 10 individual events, but had to choose a maximum of 6 individual events to swim at the meet.
The morning of Day One consisted of preliminary heats in the 50 Breaststroke, 50 Butterfly, and then the 50y Fly leg of a 200 Medley Team Relay.
AJ qualified for finals (made top 16) in the 50 Breaststroke and 50 Butterfly, so we went back in the evening to swim the finals heats for those events.
In the finals of BOTH events, he placed 10th and also set new team records!!!
Race preparation: AJ is in about the middle of the screen behind the black chairs in blue swim shorts. He is putting on and adjusting (and re-adjusting) goggles first, and then his white cap with the blue shark.
He is in lane 5, about middle of the pool, or fourth up from the bottom (in the white cap with the blue shark).
And here he is in lane 4, again about the middle of the pool, fourth down from the top.
His team is in lane 4 (about middle of the pool, 4th from the top of the screen). AJ swims butterfly in the 3rd leg of the relay. AJ and the team's anchor free leg made up considerable ground - almost enough, but not quite, to touch the wall first in the heat.
Math Olympics
Math Olympics is a one-day annual math competition among about 7 or 8 private schools in Maryland. AJ, Lia, and Anna were each chosen as one of three students in their respective grades to represent the school.
The results:
In the 3rd grade computation category... (Anna)
In the 4th grade computation category... (Lia)
And in the 6th grade computation category with the largest number of competitors (so, out of 22 students)....(AJ)
With their ribbons: AJ 1st, Lia 1st, and Anna 2nd.
In total, the school sent 20 students, and did very well -- 14 of the 20 placed (received a 1st to 5th place ribbon), including 5 who took 1st place.
