March 9 - 12, 2005; NCAA Division II Championships

Adam and I grew up swimming. Although we are separated by seven years, at any given age it was disputable who was the better swimmer. That all changed when he qualified for the NCAA’s this year. I’m not a sore loser, but I am claming this right now: if it were not for me swimming, he would not have been here. I also taught him everything he knows… obviously.

First up was the 200 Medley Relay, where Adam swam the breaststroke leg. The relay kicked of the meet in style by breaking the school record in finals on the first day. Adam’s next event was the 100 breaststroke. In prelims he missed swimming that night as an alternate by one spot but dropped another six tenths off his time. That in and of itself is a big deal, especially since he had already dropped seconds off his previous best time to get to the NCAA's. Adam also qualified for the 100 freestyle. Unfortunately, he moved before the gun and got disqualified. A bitter end to the meet, but he did walk away with a school record and the experience of being at the big dance. An experience that will serve him well in the championship seasons to come.

I got to see the lighter side of a championship meet for the first time. Before, I was always stuck at the meet all day and then went to bed early. But this time I got to go out drinking with the parents and alums after the night session and didn’t have to get up until 9:30 the next morning. Beautiful! Drinking and socializing brought a whole different spin to the eight-session, four day meet. It was actually fun instead of nerve racking.

The Truman folks kept saying that I had Adam’s mannerisms no matter how many times I corrected them. Adam actually has my mannerisms. Hey, what good is being a big brother if you can’t hold something over a younger sibling?