July 31, 2001

Hi! My name is Meaghan Mohr, and I swim for SPY in Maryland. This is my first long course meet! I was so excited before I came, planning every last detail very early in advance. I am glad we finally made it here, and of course, my hard work and dedication has definitely paid off.

Our first day, we basically settled in and went out to eat, but today the fun started. I didn’t have to swim today, I swim the 100 and 200 breaststroke on Wednesday and Friday, and so I watched everyone else swim. The facility is huge and beautiful! I swam here for East Fields one year, but the pool has so much more meaning for Long Course Y-Nationals. After a quick practice in the cool -down/warm-up pool, I cheered on my teammates in their events. The races were all close and extremely thrilling. During one of the last events, our women’s medley relay team made finals. Now, we were really ready for Opening Ceremonies.

It was so cool to be part of a national team at Opening Ceremonies. Every team lined up for the parading of the teams, and we were first! The girls were cheerleaders, and the guys were basketball players. We all had a lot of fun, and when the medley relay team got fourth in the consol heat, that was just icing on the cake. Standing there with my team, made me feel so important; it was almost like a dream. Today I knew that all my tears and sweat were worth this one week, a week to make all weeks seem unimportant. And without my teammates there by my side, I would have never made it this far.

Well, I swim tomorrow and must get some rest. I am nervous but a good nervous. I hope to improve my time in the 200 breaststroke and do the best I can do. Wish me luck!