Krusemark Family: Record-Breaking Breaststroke

This past weekend was the State Swimming & Diving competitions at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center. My nephew, Tyler, qualified to swim during three events at State - The 200 Yard Medley Relay Team, the 200 Individual Medley & the 100 Yard Breaststroke.

On Friday, the medley team did awesome and actually broke the previous Monte High School record, but they unfortunately got disqualified at the very end due to one of the swimmers diving into the pool too early. That was a real bummer. They didn't get to advance to the final round during that event.

Next was the 200 Individual Medley. Tyler gave it his all - it's not one of his favorite events. He finished 21st out of 26. They only take the top 16 to qualify for the final event. He still did very well.

His third & strongest event was one of the last events of the day - The 100 Yard Breaststroke. To say we were excited, anxious and nervous would be an understatement. After all, this would be one of Tyler's last events of his high school career. We've watched him grow and work to achieve his goals since middle school.

His goal was to break the school record of 100.81 (which has been held since 2005) and he was very determined to get there. We all had faith in him that he could do it. As the buzzer went off to start the race, we were all cheering, "Go Tyler, Push Tyler, You Can Do It Tyler, Come On Tyler!"
He stayed with the group during the whole race and then on the last lap he just broke away from the pack and took off. As soon as he touched the edge of the pool, we looked up at the scoreboard to see his time...OMG, OMG, OMG it said, 59.66!! For a split second I thought "That can't be right?" And then it hit me...HE BROKE THE SCHOOL RECORD!!!!!!! My mom was video taping the whole thing with my camera! It was such an emotional experience witnessing him achieve his goal! All his hard work and determination paid off.

He advanced to the final rounds on Saturday for the 100 Yard Breaststroke. We were all watching with pure excitement and holding our breaths as this was his final swim of the season. He dove into the pool and on his second pull, his goggles broke in half. He had to give it his all and push through it. Even with broken goggles he finished in 6th place and still beat the old Monte record with a 100.21.

We are all so very proud of you Tyler! His plan is to swim at the college level, but he hasn't made his final decision on where he will be going to school just yet. I think he has narrowed it down to SDSU or Gustavus. Wherever it will be, we will be there to cheer you on! His next goal is to make it to the national level and I have no doubt that he can & WILL do this.

Their awards banquet was held on Monday night at the high school. Tyler received a plaque for his record-breaking time, earned All-State Honors, as well as half of the "Coaches" award. It's an award that is voted on by all of the coaches to the best member of the team. He tied with his teammate Andrew.

Here is a link to the record-breaking video from this weekend. He is in lane 5 with the yellow cap...stretching his arms and jumping up & down before the race. At the end you can hear one very CRAZY, excited, proud aunt!!!!