I finally saw all my hard work pay off. In an extremely competitive Illinois State meet, I made finals in 5 of 6 events including winning the 1500 free, and had a total of 9 best times. The opening night had one event, the 800 free, something I hadn't swam since the prior year. After scratches I thankfully made it into the final heat with the 7th seed. I went out splitting close to my best 200 time and beating my best 400 time by 3 seconds. I finished in a time of 8:38.89 beating my prior best by 22 seconds, and finishing 2nd.
The next day I had the 200 free, and the 400 IM. Swimming outside of the circle seeded heats, I opened with my fastest 100 time and came back strong to qualify 7th with a 1:59.16, 4 seconds better than my previous best, 2:03.26. In the 400 IM I dropped 6 seconds and made the final heat in 8th place. After resting that afternoon I came back and dropped my 200 time again to a 1:58.92 to recieve 6th place, and then swam a new personal best in the 400 IM with a 4:55.35 placing 7th. I then anchored our 6th place 800 free relay.
Saturday started out with a disappointing swim in the 200 IM, as I went around my seed and only qualified for the bonus heat of finals in 22nd. My 400 I had a good race however and qualified with the first seed swimming a 4:11.76, dropping 6 seconds. I then swam the backstroke leg of the our 8th place medley relay, and split a 1:06.02. My coaches decided I should scratch the 200 IM to focus on the 400 and I came back that night, went out a little too fast and added time with a 4:11.91, placing 3rd.
Sunday morning I slept in with only the relay at the end of the morning session, and the 1500 that night. In the relay I led off with a 56.12, dropping 2 seconds, as our team finished 11th. That night I went into the 1500 free ranked 4th and the youngest swimmer in the heat. I swam a more conservative race and held my pace well, dropping 33 seconds and winning the event.
Our team was 5 place in mens team scores and 8th place overall with a team of just 10 swimmers. My next meet is the MegaZone Championships in Indianapolis, August 7-10.