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Sidelines Kalani Simpson |
UH swimmers’ year
comes full circleTHE e-mail settled into its inbox, beautiful and perfect, painful and sweet, like a snowflake drifting to earth.
The snow is falling here in the Carolinas. The year has almost come full circle; and the U of H swimmers are once again at the NICs. And because I know you love a story ...
This story is sad yet triumphant. Heartbreaking but uplifting. Painful and sweet. This story hasn't ended. This was my reminder.
I am going to make sure that you know that those Hawaii boys are tearing it up at NICs. Last night, the first night of the championship, they tore up personal records, university records and pool records as they swam their way to 1st place in the 800 free relay!!!!
And there would be more, the next three days, too. They continued to win, swimming through dreams, breaking through. Records were smashed, one after another. They swam like they never have. They had done it. They had carried on, somehow, in this long year, and this was how it was coming to a close. With the sun shining, even in the middle of a Michigan winter. With splashes and shouts and chests bursting joyously, and smiles that tasted like chlorine and victory. This was the story I had to know.
With laughter and love for these boys, Shawnee Sheldt
IT'S BEEN A year they've been without him, these boys. Without their teammate and friend, Michael Sheldt, who died when he drowned while warming up in the pool, thanks to an over-muscled heart.
It was hardest, then, but in a way maybe it was easier, too. They knew what to do. They cried. They cried and they swam. That's what they could do.
But then life moved on, and he was still just as gone and it still hurt just as much and made just as little sense.
It has slowly gotten easier, as the year goes on, UH coach Mike Anderson said this week. Slowly, step by step.
And in these last few days in Oakland, Mich., at the National Independent Conference championships as they won events and celebrated and records fell, well, "full circle" is a good phrase. How perfect; a circle never stops.
"Remember that old spirograph, when you keep making circles," Anderson said. "But the circle keeps moving forward."
That's where they are now.
"We keep moving forward," Anderson said.
YESTERDAY MORE RECORDS fell, and Andrew Affleck lapped the field and Cheyne Bloch was named NIC swimmer of the year. Anderson won the coach's award. They were on the heels of mighty SMU.
And Michael Sheldt was with them, through it all. His smile. They see it still. Even in their darkest moments. They see that smile.
"You know Mike's up in heaven looking down at you shaking his head saying, 'What are you doing down there?' " Anderson said.
Winning. The e-mail was right. They did it. They made it through this, somehow, and keep moving forward. There is still pain. But today there is victory, too. And sunshine. And joy. This is the story. There is snow in the Carolinas; the circle takes another turn.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com
