Regionals 2012 - Day One

For Regionals this year, Brad and I decided to make it a weekend get-away and didn't volunteer to chaperone any kids.  We stayed in the same hotel as the team (except for the first night, when the hotel was full, kind of strange since it was a Thursday) so we were around all the excitement, but didn't have to worry about transporting or keeping track of anyone.  Kylie stayed with her team-mates in another room, and she would come and say "Hi" to us every once in a while, but for the most part, when we weren't watching the races, we were able to do whatever we wanted.  It was a very nice, relaxing weekend.  Well, relaxing when we weren't watching races, that is!  Some of the races were pretty intense and exciting!  

This year Kylie is on the Varsity team, but in the JV 8+ boat.  Their first race on Friday was a heat race.   They've been doing really well at all their regattas, so we were pretty confident they would place in the top three and qualify for finals on Saturday.  The races start way down the lake, so you can't see the actual starting.  They're maybe 1/4 of the way through the race by the time they get to a point where you can see them.  They were supposed to be in the first heat, in lane one.  All the parents and team-mates line up on the beach to cheer on each race, and the excitement was high.  As the boats got closer, we realized lane one was not in the top three.  They were not in the top five.  They were dead last.  Everyone was shocked.  We felt horrible for the girls.  They were way behind and we couldn't figure out why.  Maybe they'd gotten a bad start, or maybe someone was hurt, or maybe they'd been cut off by another boat.  It was pretty glum as the boats crossed the finish line, and we headed down to console them.  Then one of the dads said, "Wait a minute, that's not our boat!" And we realized it wasn't!  Our hearts soared!  For some reason, we weren't in heat one, lane one like we were supposed to be!  Heat two had just started, so we rushed back to watch, and there they were, in lane one, right in the thick of the race where we were hoping they would be.

That's them, in the forefront of the picture.

Then they worked their magic and pulled out in front,

and easily won the race!

High Five! (Kylie is 5th seat, count from the back forward.)

They didn't even know what a huge roller coaster ride the parents had just been on!  

That was enough excitement for one day!  I was almost in tears when I thought they had lost their race and so happy for them when they won!  They've worked so hard this year, it would have been very disappointing not to go to the finals.