Nationals Day 4

Claire and Karl were back in action for the final day of this long, 4 day swim meet.  Even tough both of them were only swimming individual events, the travel and physical and mental stress that this high-stakes meet creates is a lot to handle.  Fortunately, Karl and Claire rallied and day 4 was another record-setting day!

Karl swam first again this morning, clocking in a Whitman record 45.18 100 freestyle.  His time was fast enough to qualify him for finals in the 16th and final position.  The NWC record in the 100 freestyle is 45.12, a time that eluded Karl in finals as well.  Despite taking his finals swim out .22 faster than his morning swim, he couldn't quite catch the NWC record time but ended up 15th overall with a 45.27.  The 100 freestyle was incredibly tight this year.  Karl was 15th at 45.27 and the winning time was just over a second faster than Karl at 44.18.  Karl's 100 freestyle final was his 3rd All-America swim of the meet and the 6th of his career so far, the most in Whitman Athletics history.

Claire followed Karl's morning swim with a tremendous swim of her own in the 200 breaststroke.  After a little bit of disappointment about not getting under the 1:04 barrier in the 100 yesterday, Claire was determined to break 2:20 in the 200 and that's just what she did.  She posted a Whitman record 2:19.92 preliminary time which was good enough to qualify her for the finals session in 11th place.  Claire had nearly identical splits in the evening race as she did in her morning except for one major difference: like her 100, she closed better than anyone in her heat.  She finished with a final 50 split of 36.11, over half a second faster than her morning swim's final 50 split.  The end result tonight was another Whitman record time and 11th place overall finish at 2:19.47.  Claire's 200 breaststroke finish earned her a 2nd All-America award and was her 3rd All-America award of her career.

After the meet, we went out for a nice celebratory dinner with both Claire's and Karl's parents.  Many thanks to both of them for making the trip from Burlingame, CA, and Boise, ID, respectively.  The support from all our Whitman Swimming parents and family and friends over the last week has been incredibly meaningful to everyone.  And a major shout-out to Keller Hawkins who made the drive to Indianapolis all the way from Walla Walla.  Even though she had to get her car home to Nashville anyway, having Keller here for the meet was so inspiring for all of us.  To all the Whitman swimmers and supporters, thank you!  We could never have made it here without you!

Claire and Jenn waving to Claire's parents in the stands after her 200 breast

Tomorrow, we head out of Indiana after (fortunately) getting to sleep in tomorrow.  Karl and Jenn head back to Walla Walla, Claire is off to spend the week at home with her family in Burlingame, and I'm off to experience the south with with Keller and her family in Nashville.  

Thanks for a great Nationals and a great season and I hope we see you at Whitman soon!