We all got to be a part of Andrew’s HS graduation today at the Air Force Academy Clune Arena. It was such a fantastic day. It’s a little surreal to think that I am old enough to have a high school graduate. I am so grateful that my parents were able to be here to celebrate with Andrew and that each of our kids got to be there to watch him graduate. The ceremony definitely felt a little long to some of our kids, but I’m so proud of them for showing up to support Andrew. After the ceremony Andrew met his best friends outside to take photos and congratulate each other. Then we headed home to give Andrew his graduation gifts before celebrating at the Steakhouse at Flying Horse. I gave Andrew his t-shirt quilt I had made for him with all his t-shirts spanning from elementary school through high school. He loved it. My parents gave him money and a new tie. Then we headed to go eat a fabulous steak dinner to celebrate this momentous day with Andrew.
Andrew finally had a season where he got to swim all of his favorite and best events all season long. With 7 different events that he swam in, all of them revolved around the breaststroke or freestyle strokes. Both strokes were his favorite to swim. Andrew’s goal this season was to make it to State in the 100 breastroke. Although he wasn’t seriously injured, he did face some trouble with cramping in his back again this season. He found himself either not being able to finish some of the workouts or having to skip them altogether. Despite this small hurdle, Andrew still worked extremely hard and had a really successful season, coming so close to his goal of a state time in the breaststroke. He missed it in his very last race by .87 seconds. His final and best time in the 100 breaststroke was 1:09.87. During his season he cut 8 seconds off his breastroke time, maintained a sub 1 min time in the 100 freestyle, swam the 50 freestyle in the low 25’s, and showed that despite an imperfect body to work with, he could still do amazing things. Andrew was a great leader this season as he had the role as one of the team captains. He helped to lead their team to another League Championship title, the second one he was a part of during his high school swim career.
50 Freestyle 26.45 5th out of 10 vs Palmer 25.97 2nd out of 7 at Widefield 25.66 37th out of 143 at Indian Invite (CMHS) 25.91 7th out of 15 vs Rampart 25.99 97th out of 240 at Mustang Invite 26.27 6th out of 10 at Coronado 25.35 14th out of 26 at CSML Prelims 25.20 14th out of 16 at CSML Finals 100 Freestyle 58.95 6th out of 14 vs Air Academy 58.94 4th out of 9 at Liberty 100 Breastroke 1:17.16 3rd out of 5 vs Palmer 1:15.58 2nd out of 6 at Widefield 1:14.58 24th out of 56 at Indian Invite (CMHS) 1:18.91 7th out of 8 vs Rampart 1:12.68 51st out of 117 at Mustang Invite 1:28.15 5th out of 6 at Liberty 1:16.55 6th out of 7 at Coronado 1:11.09 12th out of 20 at CSML Prelims 1:09.87 9th out of 15 at CSML Finals 200 Freestyle 2:15.90 6th out of 6 vs Air Academy 500 Freestyle 6:35.00 3rd out of 8 vs FFC 200 Freestyle Relay 26.31 split time vs Palmer Total time 1:47.61 at Widefield 26.37 split time vs Air Academy 25.34 split time at Indian Invite (CMHS) 25.58 split time vs Rampart 25.15 split time at Mustang Invite 27.20 split time at Liberty 25.13 split time at Coronado 26.54 split time vs FFC 200 Medley Relay Breaststroke split time NR vs Palmer (team time 1:56.82) Freestyle split time NR at Widefield (team time 2:12.53) Freestyle split time 25.25 at Coronado Butterfly split time NR vs FFC (team time 2:07.46) Peter had an amazing swim season this year, swimming in 9 different events. Of those events, he swam the most in the 200 and 500 freestyle. I think it’s pretty safe to say that Peter is a long-distance swimmer. Peter cut time almost every meet in the 200 and 500 freestyle, taking off a total of 30 seconds from the beginning to the end of the season in the 500 freestyle. He worked so hard to try and get a state time in the 500 free but missed it by only 10 seconds at the final meet. Peter participated in many of the relay events and even did a few events he does not normally swim. Peter’s work ethic is like nothing I have ever seen. This year Peter shifted to the faster side of the pool and was seen swimming in practice with some of the faster guys. There was even a little healthy competition between him and Andrew during practice. He worked extremely hard in and out of the pool to make sure he was ready to swim hard during the meets.
50 Freestyle 28.36 7th out of 10 at Doherty 100 Freestyle 1:02.87 7th out of 10 at Doherty 1:04.74 3rd out of 13 vs FFC 100 Fly 1:15.07 6th out of 6 vs Air Academy 200 Freestyle 2:23.48 5th out of 5 vs Palmer 2:17.98 3rd out of 7 at Widefield 2:16.22 29th out of 48 at Indian Invite (CMHS) 2:14.43 56th out of 78 at Mustang Invite 2:13.90 5th out of 6 at Liberty 2:14.94 4th out of 9 at Coronado 2:15.19 1st out of 7 vs FFC 500 Freestyle 6:14.56 3rd out of 4 vs Palmer 6:00.92 1st out of 4 at Widefield 5:55.44 18th out of 18 at Indian Invite (CMHS) 5:58.42 6th out of 8 vs Rampart 5:49.07 34th out of 46 at Mustang Invite 6.00.63 3rd out of 6 at Liberty 5:52.55 4th out of 7 at Coronado 5:43.82 12th out of 24 at CSML Prelims 5:48.68 12th out of 16 at CSML Finals 200 Individual Medley 2:44.16 7th out of 7 vs Rampart 200 Freestyle relay 28.01 split time vs Rampart 29.03 split time at Doherty 200 Medley Relay Butterfly split time NR vs Palmer (team time 2:45.01) Backstroke split time NR at Widefield (team time 2:12.53) Butterfly split time 32.69 vs Air Academy Breastroke split time NR vs FFC (team time 2:02.75) 400 Freestyle Relay Split time 31.49 at Palmer Split time 35.51 at Palmer Split time NR at Widefield (team time 4:28.72) Split time 29.01 vs Air Academy Split times NR at Mustang Invite (team time 4:22.05) Split time 30.04 at Liberty Split time 33.95 at Liberty Split time 31.68 at Coronado Split time 34.74 at Coronado Split time 31.04 vs FFC Split time 34.33 vs FFC Today Andrew went to his first and last prom with Sam. I’m so grateful I got to experience the excitement of prom with Andrew. Andrew and Sam are quite the pair and I couldn’t be happier that they got to go with each other. We headed over to Sam's house where Andrew gave Sam her corsage and she pinned on his boutonnière. I had both of them made with real succulents and they were beautiful. It was tricky to get Andrew's boutonnière pinned on but after a few people helping we managed to get it to stay on just long enough for photos. We headed to a park off of Voyager to take group photos with some of their friends. They had fun posing and doing silly photos with their friends before heading off to Prom at the Spruce Mountain Ranch with the rest of their classmates at Pine Creek High School. Lucky Andrew got to take his dad's sweet ride and drive the 4Runner for the night. It ended up being a good thing too because when Prom was over and they were headed out, Sam realized that she had left her phone. The line to get out was crazy so Andrew made a u-turn and off-loaded it back up to grab her phone. What an adventurous night they had together.
Today was Andrew's very last Jazz Band concert at the high school. I can't even begin to explain what a difference Jazz and Mrs. Margrave (or Flynn as the students called her) made in Andrew's life. Andrew really resonated with the Jazz style of music and he truly developed a passion for music through this program. He walked into the jazz program as a freshman, not knowing very much about jazz music or how to even play it. He picked things up very quickly and by his junior year, he joined the Advanced Jazz Band. I am so grateful that Andrew found something that resonated with him. This last concert was so much fun to watch. Andrew finally decided to solo in one of the songs. He always shied away from solos, so I was thrilled to see him solo once before he graduated. I will miss watching Andrew play the trombone.
One of Andrew's college essays was dedicated to Jazz music and the things he learned how to play Jazz music: While I have many different interests, I find music, especially Jazz music, to be the most engaging experience that I get to enjoy on a daily basis. I have always been a huge fan of music, but Jazz music peaked my interest more than any other type of music. In Jazz, there are no limits to your creativity; you can express your emotions through the ways that you play. Each song that I hear is a new story, a new experience. I often find myself losing track of time whenever I listen to or play Jazz. During my freshman year in high school, I had the opportunity to join the high school Jazz band as a trombonist. I had always wanted to know more about Jazz, but I had only dreamed about playing it. Learning how to play was not easy. It took many hours of hard work to begin to develop my skills, which inspired me to learn even more. A defining opportunity came when our class went to see the Dizzy Gillespie big band. I used every moment to study how these great musicians played, from their sound to their posture. Later that night, we were able to work with these musicians and learn from their experience with Jazz music. Although we were only able to work with them for thirty minutes, I learned some new techniques. One of their trombonists told me that the best way to learn Jazz was to watch good musicians play live. Since then, I have been able to work with all sorts of Jazz bands and musicians from all over the state. Having an opportunity to learn more about Jazz feels like Christmas to me. Even now, I am in a music honors society where I take every opportunity I can to teach others about Jazz. I also play in our High School’s advanced Jazz band, which was created just this year. I listen to Jazz music every day and it never gets old. I’ve learned so much about music in general because of my love for Jazz music, and I will never forget the things I have learned about hard work and the feelings that come from playing Jazz. Mike and I both enjoyed Andrew’s Senior Luncheon at the Broadmoor Hotel where they did a capping ceremony before graduation next month. Before the luncheon began, we walked around the lobby and looked at all the different memory boards. Inside the banquet hall we were seated at a table in the front row with some other folks we didn’t know. We enjoyed the slideshow of all the seniors and the tasty lunch before the capping ceremony began. Each student nominated someone to cap them and wrote a small dedication. They were read out loud during the capping. It was so sweet to hear what Andrew wrote about Mike and to celebrate this special time with Andrew. It was nice to see and talk with Andrew’s close friends he has been best buds with all through high school and to spend time with his girlfriend Sam. Andrew enjoyed talking afterwards with two of his favorite teachers at Pine Creek - Mrs. Margrave, who was his awesome music teacher and Frau Lykens, who was the coolest German teacher ever. I can’t believe Andrew’s senior year is quickly coming to a close.
After a week of three snow days and two canceled meets, the boys were finally ready to compete in their first swim meet against Palmer HS. They knew there wasn't much competition agains Palmer but they were still pumped to swim their hardest. Peter swam in the 200 medley relay (butterfly), 200 freestyle, 500 freestyle, and the 400 freestyle relay. He swam strong in all his events but his 500 freestyle was his best event of the day, landing him a new PR of 6:14.56. This is the event Peter will focus on this season to try and get as close as he can to the state qualifying time.
200 medley relay - no individual time. Team time of 2:45.01 200 freestyle - 2:23.48 500 freestyle - 6:14.56 400 freestyle relay - 31.49, 35.51 Andrew also had a pretty good meet. He swam in the 200 medley relay (breaststroke), 50 freestyle, 200 freestyle relay, and the 100 breastroke. With only 1 sec away from his best time in both the 50 freestyle and the 100 breastroke he did well for his first meet. His 200 freestyle relay team actually got a State qualifying time so that is exciting! After this meet Andrew is even more determined to work hard on breastroke this season so that he can try and get a state qualifying time. 200 medley relay (breaststroke) - no individual time. Team time of 1:56.82 50 freestyle - 26.45 200 freestyle relay - 26.31 100 breastroke - 1:17.16 |
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