Great Freshman Year for Kate, RHS swim team

Kate has been swimming since she was in the 1st grade.  She swims with Brooks Coville and Three Rivers Swim Club, and has always enjoyed the sport. While in middle school she participated at the home meets for Rome High. As she has developed as a swimmer, she has caught the competitive spirit and has already set records as a freshman in high school. I don't anticipate her going to the Olympics (and people always ask that question), but she eats, sleeps and breathes swimming.  

All through middle school she often out touched the high school swimmers. This year she is still winning and scoring points for the team.  In fact, the team did not lose all season in their weekly dual and three way meets. They participated in three invitational meets, where they finished 3rd, 1st and 8th.  The invitationals had as many as 30 teams!

Swimming is all about technique and fast times. Coach Coville is a technique coach.  Coach Powers, the high school coach, works on speed.  It's a great combo!  Kate has dropped times in every event this year, getting faster and stronger.  She is primarily a distance swimmer, but she can't sprint too. We call her the beast! And this year we have begun calling her Wonder Woman, which is her favorite 70's TV show!

A very young Kate with Coach Coville

Kate has changed so much since December 2012 when Randy retired.
The photo on the right is with Kenzie Bentz, a Berry student who helps coach the RHS team!

Kate, Coach Powers and teammate Charlynn

THE relay team!
They broke the 2004 school record in the 200 IM

Waiting on results at the Invitational!

They won the meet!!

State bound swimmers!

Kate has her usual cheering section at every meet - me, Dad, Aaron and Grandmommie.  On occasion Carrie will come and bring a friend or two.  At the Dalton Invitational we 'Face Timed' with Alyssa in Mississippi.  That was really exciting, especially since Kate dropped 5 seconds in her 500 freestyle! In fact, she has dropped 17 seconds in that event since November.  

Team Kate! 

There is a record board in the pool area at the high school.  Many of the girls' records are from 1999 and the early 2000's.  I am predicting new records over the next several years! 

At the beginning of the season there were three empty spaces on the board.  An empty space exist because no RHS swimmer has qualified for state in that event.  Kate's name will go up in one of those empty spaces for the 100 backstroke.  Here's the exciting night!  

Not many freshmen qualify for the state meet in an individual event, but Kate did it!  She was really close in a few other individual events. If her times continue to drop, then next year she could qualify in 5 individual events.  She will represent RHS next week at the state meet in 3 relays and the 100 backstroke. It's been fun to see Kate have success in something she loves!  We are the proud family!

Snow Storm 2014

On Tuesday January 28 there was snow in the forecast, but the weatherman said it would most likely be a dusting for our area.  He was incorrect, proving that God is in control!

View from my office at 11:30 a.m.

Classes were cancelled at 1:00 p.m.
Here is the Ford Complex when  I left campus

Traffic was bumper to bumper going to West Rome.
The usual commute is 10 minutes turned to almost an hour.
Nothing compared to the Atlanta nightmare.

I didn't have an ice scraper handy,
so my Swift and Finch coffee sleeve did the job!

Ready for some fun on a local hill!

Aaron decided to try snow kayaking.  Click for a video!

Randy's vintage 60's sled was the favorite mode of transportation!
Even I went down a few times!

Give me a push!

School was out the remainder of the week due to ice covering the roads.  We enjoyed several neighborhood walks to try sledding on other hills, and a couple of WalMart excursions helped us walk off all the eating we did.  I like to cook on snow days! Randy, Kate and our travelling neighbors, the Williams hiked to the Berry Reservoir to enjoy the beauty of the mountain campus. Carrie and her Winshape friends hiked to the House of Dreams where they skated on a frozen pond. Instagram blew up with pictures from the Berry campus!

Alyssa had snow and ice in Mississippi too which meant no school for several days.  Though we have all enjoyed the snow and days off, we are ready for the routine to resume!