August 3, 2001

Alexa Merz, 14

Palisades Malibu YMCA

The last day of the meet! I had my third and final race, the 50m back, today. Boy, did I end with a bang…and literally. I was feeling really good (loose and all), and I had a terrific start. However, as I started to kick underwater, I heard a cracking noise. I felt my goggles fall away from my head. The nosepiece had broken in two, and now I was stuck in the middle of a race without goggles. Apart from hitting the lane line a few times, I was doing great; I was out in front, and feeling strong. I kept my eyes closed most of the time, since any chlorine contact makes my eyes practically bleed. I opened my eyes about 10m from the wall (5m from the flags, if anyone cares) and got a huge whoosh of water in my face. The next time I opened my eyes I saw the flags way in front of me, and realized that I should have taken my finishing stroke about a second ago. I threw my left arm back, with hope of salvaging the race, only to have it completely hit the bulkhead (thus the bang). I climbed out of the water and stood by the warm up pool holding my left wrist that I had hit on the bulkhead, and when I saw my coach walking towards me I broke down crying, not so much from the pain, but from the shock. He told me that I had a great start, and if not for the finish, I would have won. I went to get some ice, and eventually went back to our small team area and laughed about it with my teammates. Anyway, I did a good time, even with the finish, and I tied up the leak in my ice bag, so I guess I don’t have too much to worry about. All in all, a great meet!