Mid-Week Diving Updates

 OK SO. 

Cooper got 15th IN THE WHOLE FREAKING NATION in 1-meter springboard at the USA Dive national tourney. HOW AMAZING IS THAT??!!!

There were twenty seven divers in semis, and he missed the final round cut (12 divers) by FIVE POINTS.

FIFTEENTH IN THE NATION THO YOU GUYS. Omg. This tournament is really hard to qualify for (regionals and then zones), so it is one of those things where just being there is cool and then! FIFTEENTH PLACE. Last year, he was a preliminary round only competitor (which is still really cool).

He and Ben are having an excellent time in West Virginia, and he has semifinals for 3-meter springboard TODAY and platform prelims on Thursday. YOU KNOW I WILL KEEP YOU POSTED.

On Monday, Dorothy competed in her very first All City dive meet. There were sixty-eight girls in her age group, so we (Dorothy, Jack, Minnie, and me) were at the host pool for four hours for warm-ups and prelims. The girls all did 4 dives, and then the top 16 got to do 2 more. Dorothy did not make the cut, but she was AWESOME. Check out this inward:

She is going to start doing the rec group at Wisconsin Dive Club a couple days a week and next summer she claims she will consider wearing the team suit (lol).

As always, Minnie lived her best 5th baby life in the team tent, the super hot baby pool (90 degrees so the divers could stay warm LOL as if they wouldn’t be warm in 87 degrees and so much humidity), and the mist tent.

While Dorothy was warming up, Minnie and I ran into the Clay on the Move van at the park across the street, and just like that, we have checked off the Art Cart, the Play on the Move van, and the Clay on the Move van, and we still have thirty days of summer left!

Of course after a long day at the pool, we went... to the pool

On Tuesday night (a night that Harry worked late OF COURSE), Jack had his All City age group. Last year was his first year in the 15-18 category, but he skipped the meet for camp, so we have never seen the 15-18 boys category, which is the very last category of the meet. Over 350 Madison divers competed over 2 days, so by the time the volunteers, coaches, and judges got to the last event of the tourney, they were all punchy. The pool deck was trashed. The fans were rowdy. There was an exhibition portion after the final round but before awards for coaches and kids to throw their weirdest stuff. And! The diving did not START until 7pm. Minnie usually goes to bed at 7:30. I was braced for disaster, but it was… the best night of the summer so far!

Jack was FABULOUS. Here’s his first dive:

And to give you a taste of the vibes, his second:

Meanwhile, Minnie and Dorothy raided the team glitter stash

The sun set right as the final 16 divers were announced (Jack made the cut), and Minnie moved her personal party to the baby pool. I snapped one (awesome) pic of final round warm ups and then resigned myself to watching from the other end of the pool deck, knowing Jack was having basically the best time ever. 

Instead of the crowd thinning after cuts, which is what usually happens, all the lifeguards and swimmers from most of the area pools showed up to watch prime time diving under some truly dad-rigged lights (that cut out for about 30 minutes until a host pool dad arrived with a comically large extension cord).

Harry came straight to the host pool after he closed down our pool, so he joined the throng of bros behind the diving boards, while Dorothy and Minnie had their own night swim:

Shout out to Dorothy for hanging with her sister instead of the slightly bigger kids from the team, which is where she really wanted to be.

In the final round, Jack’s back 1.5 somersault with a twist was the best I have ever seen it, and he ended up in 9th right behind a high school teammate and with his 3rd best score ever. 

His friend from our pool won the meet with a monster score, and he and Jack scored 457 points between the 2 of them, meaning they won the division’s high point trophy. Our pool has not won one of these in YEARS, and it usually happens when a team has 4 or more people in finals. NOT JUST TWO! They were so proud.

Then! Jack joined the final exhibition doing a belly flop so lavish that Ben got videos of it texted to him in West Virginia from other dive club parents. 

It was a WONDERFUL night. We got home at 10:30, and everyone was in bed by midnight.

YOU GUYS! My class agreed that doing their final speeches a day early would make the most sense, so now I only have to fill 26 days of dresses! I will probably wear my bonus dress on grading day, but the challenge! Is almost over!

23/26: My favorite thing I even kept from Stitch Fix

24/26: Lands End comfy dress for an exam day (IT HAS POCKETS)