Written by: Cleo Tan Jiayi
Edited by: Angelina Grace Pandiman
Photos by: Eusoff Works
Coming up right after the exhilarating Breaststroke Relay event, our swimmers were determined to win it this time for Eusoff. This time, Unna and Shannon (this girl appears everywhere!) were ready for combat against Sheares and Temasek Hall in the Female Freestyle Individual heats!
Up first, we had Unna whose seemingly nervous energy gradually dissipated as she took her place on the diving board. Actually, she was so anxious she almost forgot to wear her goggles! Cute! Luckily, her ears did not fail her when Shannon reminded her to wear those goggles. With her swim mode on, she took her position once again, doing her best to calm her nerves. Nervousness could not stop her from nailing her reaction to the horn and launching herself quickly into the pool. Her past practices allowed her limbs to remember the movement she had gone through many times and she kept her freestyle skills up to par with her opponent. By the halfway mark in the pool, she had inched herself away from her opponent and was leading by almost a full body length! Stroke by stroke, kick by kick she kept her movements deft and sharp, thus earning herself a win for Eusoff! She clocked in at a timing of 35.22 seconds! Well done Unna!
The second representative was Shannon, who was patiently awaiting her turn to compete. To be honest, she had admitted that this was one of the matches that she really wanted to win in and was feeling some pressure. Not that I could tell as she calmly adjusted her board and strapped her goggles into place. “Take your marks, BOOP!” Shannon soared into the air and glided smoothly into the water. Was it an eel? Was it a fish? No, it was just Shannon skimming through the waters before all the swimmers appeared at the surface of the pool water. The reaction was explosive. It was clear to see that this would be a very close match as all three swimmers were equally tied with one another. Placings shifted back and forth with no clear view of who would emerge the winner of this match. This race kept our hearts pounding and our toes clenched throughout the entire race. There was certainly no time to breathe! At the third quarter marking, the swimmer from Temasek Hall was trailing slightly behind but Shannon and the swimmer from Sheares kept their stamina and determination going. Finally! Both Sheares’ swimmer and Shannon touched the wall almost exactly at the same time! Who would be declared the winner?
There was a strong debate among ourselves as we awaited for the final results to be revealed. It was hard not to keep our hopes up but we also did not want to feel the disappointment should the outcome be different. “Omigod AHHHH!” The joy received by our swimmers reverberated throughout the entire pool as we realised that Shannon had earned a victory for Eusoff, coming in first place with an insane timing of 30.45 seconds! Sheares was just a few milliseconds behind. What a close call! We thank the team for displaying such finesse in their swim, and their hard work and efforts to get to where they were!
Shannon participated in so many swim events that some may wonder - does she live on land or in water?
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