Maddie's Triumph: 'The Heart ... as Strong as a Warrior"

Maddie roared through the first half of her 50 meter freestyle on the way to her second win of the City-County.

Mads celebrates with her grandmother Chris Visscher.

Leah said it best: "For all her darling sweetness, the heart of her beats as strong as a warrior and as confident as an eagle."

That was my grandgirl Maddie today, her second day of triumph after all that grinding work, moderate success, humiliation, frustration and gratification as a member of the Hunting Hills Houndogs swim team. This was Maddie's turn to shine.

In two days of the season-ending City County swim meet, she won two (50 free, 25 back) of the three events she was entered in and scored seven points in the third event. These were her first points as a Houndog and they couldn't have come at a better time for her short-handed team.

Mads gets a hug from Dad.

Maddie awaits her turn in the pool.

Maddie surprised everyone. Her father, who has seen her only once this year, nearly dropped his entire jaw when he saw her power through the 50 meter freestyle today. Last year, her biggest humiliation came when she failed to finish the 50 at Stone Gate. She stood crying in the middle of the pool, all alone. Today, she was 12-feet tall and showing those delightful dimples to everybody in the building as she beamed.

Mads' Coach Andy Huray said he wished "they'd swim like this in practice."

Initially, we thought Maddie had finished second today (which would have been wonderful), but discovered that there was a timing device malfunction and she had cut 12 seconds off her previous best time with a time of a smidge more than 57 seconds.

Hunting Hills entered the final day of the meet nearly 300 points down to Stone Gate and was 700 points behind going into the afternoon final, but overcame the deficits and won by nearly 350 points. Maddie's total (not sure exactly yet because the totals have not been released; it could have been as many as 47 points) was important in the victory.

Maddie's mama, Kara, who was timing a swimmer one lane over, said when Mads' hand hit the end of the pool for the victory she looked up, smiled and said, "Eat my bubbles!" Her Pampa couldn't have put it better.

Maddie and her buds in line to swim. No nerves here.

Here's the scorecard from Day 1.

Maddie's Mom Kara served as a timer.

Mads nears the finish.

Mads' winning time was posted wrong in Lane 7. She finished in 57 seconds.