I used to think they were pointless races. Meaningless, a waste of time.

The “B” heats at the Section 1A swimming meet always seemed strange to me. Those heats include the bottom eight swimmers from the top 16 of the preliminary round. The only way anyone can advance to state out of those races is to swim the state cut time.

In my first two years covering the Section 1A meet in Austin, I always wondered how anyone could come close to a state cut time when they couldn’t reach the top eight on the first day on the meet.

Well on Friday night Austin freshman Helen Heimark changed my whole perspective on the “B” race for the 200-yard freestyle. As she crept closer to the state cut time I kept looking up at the clock, then down at her. She was getting closer and I was about to see something I had never seen before.

Then, right as she hit the finish line the clock kept rolling by her lane number on the scoreboard. I was pretty sure she had beaten the time and reached state, but wasn’t totally sure.

I looked up to the crowd and they looked as confused as me. I looked to the pool and Heimark was waiting anxiously. Finally, the timer announced Heimark’s time with a smile on his face and it was official. A “B” race meant something. It meant a trip to state for Heimark, and it meant I can’t complain about those races next year.

What Heimark did, shaving over two seconds off her time in two days, is nothing short of amazing.

Now she’s headed to state with five of her teammates to swim at the University of Minnesota this Friday.

I won’t wouldn’t count her out.