Sunday, November 21, 2010

Miami University- Chris Gunnels


Hi my name is Christopher Gunnels and I am a Junior Psychology major from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. I swim mostly mid-distance freestyle and backstroke.
Picking up where Darin left off last week, we just came off a big meet weekend swimming at Ohio State on Friday and then traveling to Kenyon Saturday. For some time now, we have swum both of these teams on a yearly basis. Friday in Columbus we swam well, which was good to see for our first away meet of the year. It has been really nice to see several of the freshmen step up and swim how they need to this early in the year. The next day we traveled to Kenyon, which we knew would be a very close meet after tying them last year. Once again we put up some very good times and showed Kenyon that we have some firepower. There are still things to work on, but so far, we are performing very well. Like every team, we have some weak points but my teammates have done a good job of stepping up to the challenge and swimming events that we may not usually do. After the Kenyon meet, Coach Pete noted positively how consistent we have been so far this year for every dual meet we have competed in. The hard work and determination we have been putting in is slowly paying off and we are all extremely excited for our conference meet, coming off our last dual meet in the fall.
Monday morning we were back in the pool ready to improve and have some fun. Since this is the first week in some time without a dual meet, Pete and Scott decided to kick our teeth in a couple of times. So far this week has been pretty tough but it is definitely something we need heading into our thanksgiving break. The rest of the season goes by very quickly and soon enough we will be heading to Southern Illinois for our conference meet. We leave Oxford next Tuesday for thanksgiving break and return to campus on Sunday. This is a pretty important part of the season because even though we are not training with the team, it is essential to stay in peak shape so we can hit it hard when we return.
Other than swimming, we have been up to the usual activities including hitting the books of course. A lot of us had tests this week so we got good amounts of studying done. We have also been taking some pretty serious naps and making sure our Xbox’s still work. Harris dining hall had it usual thanksgiving dinner on Thursday and it was delicious as always. They even brought out the fancy tablecloths so the entire team could dine in class.
            Personally, I am extremely excited for the rest of the season. It seems as if everyone on the team is working towards a central goal and coming together as a team. We are doing what needs to be done and everyone is focused on doing what will most help the team. We are very close as a team, which helps us have each other’s backs both in the pool and out.  This allows for some pretty inspiring performances when we are able to compete with our teammates and push each other to the next level.
           
            Make sure to check in every week for what’s going on with the team as we get closer and closer to our conference meet.

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