Diary

Jessica
Ivry

Past Entries

March 16, 2005

Karyn Henderson is on her way to Florida for spring break and she asked me to write her last diary entry. Following the wit and charm of The Karyn Henderson is impossible but I will try my best.

To put into words the excitement of last weekend is impossible. The past six days seem to have taken six years, but instead of an eight-page essay detailing every move I made, I'll just give you a little insight into the best moment of my life. Ohhh....

I wish I were in the land of cotton,
Old times that were not forgotten,
Look away, look away, look away, Dixie Land
In Dixie Land were I was born, early on a frosty morn,
Look away, look away, look away, Dixie Land
I wish I were in Dixie,
Away! Away!
In Dixie Land I'll make my stand to live or die in Dixie,
Away, away, away down south in Dixie,
Away, away, away down souuuuth in Dixie!

Now imagine 18 girls and four coaches drowning in the Holland, Michigan, pool screaming this cheer, half crying, half laughing, all of us without voices.

Going into Saturday night, we had cameras following us and glitter everywhere, but as soon as the meet ended, it was evident that as a team, we didn't know what to do. From lining up to holding hands to jumping in the pool, we were inexperienced with the whole winning a national championship thing, but we were ready to figure it out.

The moment Jon was announced as Coach of the Year to the next morning, I don't think we stopped screaming. I remember Jon on the podium and then we realized it was THAT time. What do we do? Well, we first moved to create a tunnel for the other teams to go through, but we weren't in the right spot so we moved again. Williams went through, then Denison, and then Kenyon.

Then Leigh Campbell called us together and I can not repeat what was said, but the tears just started coming and I couldn't help it. Then Sam Gillen started crying, then Ali and, well, we were all kind of disasters.

But then our beloved announcer, with glitter in his hair, started announcing all our names. From there to the podium is a blur of clapping and cheers and smiling. We walked up to the podium as 18 girls linked by hands and hearts.

I remember trying really hard to smile and not cry, but well, the pictures will be interesting. From there we're back to what I was describing earlier. Why we jumped in the deep end of the pool, instead of the shallow, I don't know. I guess we will just have to learn for next time.

But with it being our first time there, we had to start our own traditions. It seemed only fitting for our cheer to be "Dixie." What describes us better then a bunch of Southern belles going up north to claim victory!!!

Jessica Ivry is a sophomore from Orinda, Calif. She would love to answer e-mail questions from Emory recruits and fans.