The Mel Zajac Canada Cup meet held annually at UBC just might be my favourite meet on my calendar. Last week was my 8 Zajac meet and I’ve yet to win a race but I’m going to keep persevering until I get it right. I’ve competed in a lot of cities but nowhere compares to Vancouver in the Springtime with everyone out and about on bikes or running. It was a lot of fun being in an active environment in a vibrant city where I probably overheard 10 or 12 different languages spoken over a four day period. My random thought heading home was that it must be easy for UBC swimmers to win the my-school-is-better-than-your-school argument because “we have a nude beach on campus” trumps pretty much everything.
Mel Zajac 4 x 100 Medley Relay
Swimming.. The really important development that may have flown under everyone’s radar was the 4×100 medley relay where Liquid Lightning “A” team of Cooper, Russo, Smith and Douglas dismantled the best Kamloops could put together that day by a full second for a respectable 15th place finish and bragging rights. I think Emil secretly believes I’m good at butterfly but my 200fly left me about 15 seconds behind everyone in my heat in prelims. Sorry to keep everyone waiting. I scratched the final of the 200 IM and forgot I had a 50 BR final (was almost back in Kelowna by the time I remembered. 50 bucks). My 200 BR was good enough for 2nd place and same for 100 BR. In hindsight I probably should have taken the prelim swim of the 200 breast a little easier preserving energy for the final but I went out fast in the morning hoping to secure lane 4. No real reason behind this other than I wanted to pick the song to walk in to finals. Walking in and stretching behind the blocks listening to Beyoncé’s Hey Ms. Carter was my little gift to everyone Saturday night. That’s just how I think.
This was my first meet with the Big Kids National Team. Much the same as the Junior team except everyone’s older and faster. The first night we did media stuff which meant someone did my hair, applied makeup and took my picture. I know I’m the new kid on this team and I’m keenly aware that no one wants to hear my advice but we really need to find a way to bring that Gavin hair sylist guy with us to Scotland and Australia this Summer. We might not have won all the races we were supposed to the first day but dammit everyone looked like a supermodel for a day. I certainly felt more confident walking around with my hair looking like it’s never looked before and I’m certain it helped my swimming. Please don’t ask me to explain the science behind how I swim faster when I look great….I just do.
Off to California next month for TYR Swim Meet of Champions June 26-29 in Mission Viejo.
Kierra Smith
May 31, 2014
