Dear Diary,

Two days down, two more to go. Today was another exciting day, full of fast swimming and lots of fun. Trials went by quickly and smoothly. Although my team only had two swims at night, one individual and one relay, our morning was still full of lots of excitement. One swim that stands out the most to me was my teammates race who swam the 200 breast. She had been struggling for a long time to get back down to her best times. Finally this morning she broke through with an awesome race. When she got out of the pool, she had a huge smile on her face. It was such a great moment to see her be truly happy after she swam. The morning went on with the 1000 free’s, our team having three awesome races by our boys; all of them dropping more than twenty seconds each.

Finals tonight began with a little bit of a rough start where we experienced some rain and wind. Though that would not stop any of the fast swimming that lay ahead. Tonight we watched an amazing young lady break the national record in the 200 breast. It was an awesome race to be able to watch and also an inspiring one. It showed every swimmer here that anything is possible. Our night ended with the women’s 400 free relay. Our girls all had great races, dropping two seconds from their morning time, allowing them to win the consolation heat. Last year our girls won that event, this year we graduated three of the girls that were on it. Having three new girls on that relay, it was awesome that they were able to come back and do so well. The night quickly came to an end, all of us so excited about the races that we have had as a team, and even more excited about the races to come!

~Shannon Hartney

April 3, 2002

Wilton Wahoos

Connecticut