Area 10 Regional Championships in Sebastian, FL 8/20/11

Well, Jason had his latest swim competition on August 20th in Sebastian, FL for Special Olympics.  The meet was for Broward, Palm Beach, St. Lucie, Martin and Indian River counties.  He swam three events: 50M freestyle, 50M breaststroke and 4X50M freestyle relay.  Because of our trip to NJ and his other swim team taking a week off from practice, Jason only had one practice session in the 15 days leading up to this event.  We were concerned that he would be rusty or not want to participate in the first place.

That fear was misplaced, however, as he took first place in his division in all three events.  During warmups, he didn't get to dive off of the starting blocks, which hurt him in the first event.  He needs to get one or two dives off during warmups to get over his fear of it, but he wasn't allowed to do so at this event.  Consequently, when he dove in for the first event, he dove awkwardly and emerged dead last.  Like a champion, he then fought his way to the front and take first place.  The other two events went much smoother for him, with the relay not even being close.  His lack of practice makes it even more impressive, and the heat that day was unbearable and he didn't even flinch about it.  Next up, the State Aquatics Tournament on October 1-2, once again in Sebastian, FL.