The IMX meet takes place once a year for swimmers ages 14 and under in each swim quadrant of the country at the end of January. Our area hosts the IMX meet for the Eastern US Zone, which includes 17 states from mid-Atlantic through Maine. There were just over 200 13-14-year-old male swimmers at this meet. Swimmers qualify to swim at the meet based on minimum composite scores across several events. For 13-14 year olds, the required events are: 500 Freestyle, 200IM, 400IM, 200Breaststroke, 200 Backstroke and 200 Butterfly.
For AJ, who is a sprinter, not a mid or long distance swimmer, this meet is a stretch in terms of training and the competition.
AJ and other 13-14 year old teammates who qualified and were competing.
AJ doing butterfly in the bottom lane, lane 8 (in the dark blue cap with the light blue fish logo).
200 Fly (which is an exhausting race endurance-wise). I'm tired after just watching the first lap.
200 Back. AJ is in lane 6. He hadn't swum this event in a long time (and had been working more on backstroke recently), hence the huge time drop that resulted in finishing first in his heat.
200 IM (perhaps too speedy out of the gate with Fly - the pacing on this event is a work in progress)
200 Breaststroke - bottom lane, lane 8
IMX Swim Meet
January Open Swim Event
At this meet, the 13&up swimmers all get meshed together for the racing and then they split out the results by age bracket (13-14, and then 15&over).
He is wearing a light blue cap with a patriotic TIBU fish logo at this meet.
Here is a 100 yard breaststroke race. He was seeded in one of the faster heats with mostly much older swimmers. Though he doesn't touch first in this heat, his time scored him in 1st place for the 13-14 year olds.
He also finished in 1st place for the 13-14 year olds in the 50 yard freestyle. (Though he swims in a faster heat with a mix of older swimmers.)
AJ was working on improving his weaker strokes this season. This is a 100 backstroke race. He is in the light blue cap and one of this teammates is next to him in the darker blue cap. They pushed each other faster and tried to stay together the whole way. AJ finished 6th in backstroke in 13-14 year old bracket.
