When I walked into the pool area on my first day of high school swimming practice in seventh grade, I made two goals for myself to accomplish during my high school swimming career: break the Sartell school record of 55.88 seconds in the 100 yard backstroke and win the MSHSL Class A State Championship in that event as well. For six years, I trained everyday with these goals in the back of my mind. After numerous trips to the State meet, I had yet to achieve what I had set out to do. When I qualified for the State meet my senior year of high school, it was my last opportunity to turn my goals into a reality. My senior year State meet was different than previous years. Despite it being my last year as a high school swimmer, it was also my first time being sick at a championship meet. What perfect timing.
While all the other swimmers were feeling exceptional in the water during warm-ups, I felt the complete opposite. My head was pounding like a bass drum in a marching band. An alarm sounded in my ears. Every time I swallowed, it felt like razor blades were slicing my throat. Worst of all, my sinuses were a ticking bomb, ready to explode at any moment. When I dove in the water, I thought my eyeballs were going to shoot out of their sockets. I felt
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I was mad, angry, sad, and frustrated among thousands of other emotions. When I got home from the meet, I sat on my couch and cried. The next day I stayed in bed almost the whole day. I took over three weeks off, which was one of the longest breaks I have taken in all my years of swimming. It was too hard to bounce back so quickly after being so disappointed about my performances. After everything I had sacrificed over the years for my sport, this is how my high school career ended? All of the yards, morning practices, afternoon practices, dryland sessions, healthy eating, sore muscles, and missed social events were all for