Chasing Gold

34| loving you is a loosing game

"If we learned anything from last season is that you shouldn't count any team out. This is the highest level of college swimming, you have to watch out for everyone or you might end up going home empty-handed." Josiah adds. "What are your predictions for the finals Casper?"

"BGU vs OHSU," Casper replies. "With BGU as my final pick, I was a little hesitant at the beginning of the season, but you can't deny that they have been swimming at the best level of swimming they've ever swum in these last three years. They did not come to play this season Josiah and even though OHSU are the clear favorites, that alone will give them what they need to take the gold back home."

"Will BGU end up taking back the gold home? Who will be crowned the champions of this season? " Josiah asks. "You can watch the broadcasts live on ESPN for all of the coverage on the season or join us after each matchup for exclusive footage and interviews. Join us next week for the final meets of the regular season, BGU vs FSU and OHSU vs ASU. This is Josiah Lyle for ESPN."

By the time the segment ended, I was already in the BGU pavilion. I walked straight into the locker rooms to change into my swimming briefs. After I changed, I put on my swimming cap on and I walked out with my swim gear in hand. The boys were already standing by our lane and so was Ev. Coach decided to leave Ev on our lane even though things weren't good between us. At first, it bothered me but when I started to concentrate more on what I was doing and less on the fact that she was just inches away, I was good. The boys stopped giving her the silent treatment (besides me of course) after a good few weeks, I didn't mind though. Just because I was being a dick to her didn't mean that so should they. Besides, them talking to her made things less awkward during practice.

"Bro, where were you?" Dant asks. "Did you walk all the way here?"

"Yes," I reply. "I needed to wake myself up, thanks to you dickheads, my head is still pounding from last night."

O'Connor laughs. "We didn't shove those tequila shots down your throat, that was all you."

Coach walked out of his office and we all got in the water. "Listen up everybody, as you already know, the regular season is ending which means that we are closer than before from reaching our goal."

"That means only one thing, practice will be tougher than before, our goal is not completed until we hold that gold in our hands." Coach pauses as he looks at all of us. "Now, let's kick off practice with a 1,000-meter warm-up. Every 200 meters you change up the stroke."

Coach blows the whistle and I go first. Out of all of us, I was the fastest one so it's always a no-brainer. Ev on the other hand was the last one, she wasn't a slow swimmer but compared to us four, she was. I would put her before Dant but she finds the pressure of someone being on her toes both stressful and irritating.

"Green, did you all of a sudden forget how to position your head as you pull your arms over the weekend?" Coach Jennings shouts and I can imagine the look on Ev's face. She doesn't mind getting told what she's doing wrong, but she hates it when Coach shouts at her.

"Nolan, your elbow is dropping on entry." Coach Jennings shouts once again. "You've been doing this for years now, concentrate on what you're doing. Aim deeper into the water rather than for the surface."

"Dant, you're recovering too early," Dant also hates it when Coach shouts at him. He gets in the worst mood, which is kind of funny because O'Connor and Becker get on his nerves by teasing him non stop. "Flick the water into the air at the end of your stroke by your thigh to remember to finish."

After we were done with the warm-up, Coach came up with the brilliant idea to add pre-set into our practice from now on. For the pre-set we did 4X100 Freestyle at 1:20, 4X100 IM at 1:30, 2X100 Kick at 2:00, 4X50 Freestyle descend slowly to fast at :50, and finally 4X50 stroke of choice at 1:30. We were pretty out of breath by the end of that pre-set, but unfortunately for us, that was just the beginning.