April 3, 2002

Day two here in Ft. Lauderdale was sunny and beautiful. We saw many amazing swims including a number of national records broken. Our team did very well this morning with a number of personal bests. John placed tenth in the 200-yard breaststroke, so the entire team made the trek across the street to come back and watch him swim in consolation finals.

This was my first time coming back at Winter Nationals swimming under the lights in front of so many flashing cameras. It was exciting yet nerve racking. My race went well with the top five swimmers being within three tenths of a second. I placed twelfth overall. Sticking with tradition, my teammates handed me flowers and our team mascot Flippity, given to us by Casey and Morgan, our coach’s daughters. Then they all yelled, "Who’s that kid with the bunny?" It was a great experience and a culmination of all the hard work and dedication.

Melissa White and John McGrath

South Shore Strypers

Quincy, Massachusetts