As a senior and a team captain, this one meant a lot to me. (St. Joe) had a lot of kids step up. We didn't have as many. That's what happens in state championship meets. |
I didn't even breathe on the final lap. That's how close it was. I knew if I had breathed, (St. Joseph) was going to have a great chance to win the race. I had to keep motoring. |
I knew I was a little behind coming out of the last turn. I just put my head down and no-breathed the second lap and just drove for the finish. |
I thought we had won. The flags were actually blocking them on the scoreboard, and I could only see a '1' in front of our name. I was all jumping up and down for a minute and a half. I got out of the pool, and no one had said anything about a tie. Then I looked up, and saw two 1s. |
It feels a lot different defending a title than trying to take one. St. Joe swam great. I knew a couple kids on their team were going to swim like hell. They did. They really brought a lot of kids along this season, kids we'd never heard of. |
They (St. Joseph) really stepped it up. That's something that's going to happen in a meet like this. They had more guys step up than we had. That's the way I see it. |