This is my first article, so here's a little background about me. I am a competitive swimmer. I'm known for sprinting freestyle, but my favorite stroke is butterfly. Backstroke I love because my starts spring off the block giving me a healthy start in the race; and breastroke ... bleh! You really expect me to like breastroke? I've had personal training to make me better but, honestly, it's my least favorite strokes. So simply my favorite events come down to 50 free, 200 backstroke and 100 I.M.. I.M. stands for individual medley which is a combination of all four swimming strokes in the order of butterfly, backstroke, breastroke and then freestyle. Right now I'm in short course season. It's mid-October and our home swim meet is next weekend. This will be my first meet of the season and I'll have some tough competition which will hopefully push me harder.

My age group on our swim team is the highest out of six other age groups and we practice for 2.5 hours every night Monday – Friday; and then meets are on the weekend. Lately, thanks to high school girls swimming practice and community education, our practices have been cut short and even cancelled. I enjoy watching the high schoolers swim but I'd much rather see myself in the water at practice. I'm in eighth grade and have every desire to go to high school ... for swimming of course!

Short course is in the winter; and swimmers then swim in pools measured 25 yards. In the summer the season is long course and the average pool is 50 meters long. And in swimming there are five huge levels of accomplishment: First there are state championships (yeah I've been a billion times). Then there's Central Zones (It’s a high-end meet with 5 states putting their most elite athletes forward). I've also been there. Junior Nationals is next. I highly recommend going even though I haven't competed there myself. Olympic Trails and Olympics follow. I live on the border of Wisconsin and Minnesota in Spring River. Being so close to Minnesota, our Wisconsin-based team swims as a Minnesota team instead of Wisconsin for competition. Levels are much harder in Minnesota than Wisconsin. So I'm glad that Minnesota is on my side.

(10-29-10) I've decided to write a little more after the swim meet. I did considerably well earning a state time in 200 backstroke with a 2:17 swim. I didn't do so well in 50 free though. I breathed way too much and added time and came in second. Overall I had a great meet and had a ton of fun cheering on my teammates. Oops I almost forgot. I’m going as a bedbug for Halloween.

Jenn Smithson
Team Captain: Penguins
Spring River, Wi.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 08 March 2011 16:05 Written by Jenn Smithson Sunday, 21 November 2010 16:22