By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
NILES – The Niles-Buchanan YMCA Gators 8 and under swim team had 14 swimmers qualify for the state meet recently.
Of the 14, a total of 12 swimmers placed in their events.
Gators swim coach Jacque Clark was pleased with her team's performance and the fact that the team was able to send so many swimmers to the state meet.
"We only hope the numbers get larger every year," Clark said Monday afternoon.
Placing at state for the Gators were Lauren Kilgore, who took second place in all of her events in the 5 and under age group.
"She is really an up-coming star. She did extremely well at the meet and is just doing a great job for us," Clark said.
Kilgore took second in the 25 freestyle, 25 backstroke and 25 breaststroke.
Matthew Norris competed in the 6 and under age group and took second place in the 25 breaststroke, fourth in the 25 freestyle and sixth in the 25 butterfly.
Caleb Mayes placed fourth in the 25 backstroke in the 5 and under age group.
Zeke Furst and Silas Krueger also placed in the 5 and under age group.
Furst took fifth place in the 25 backstroke and seventh in the 25 freestyle. Krueger was sixth in the 25 freestyle and eighth in the 25 backstroke.
In the 8 and under age group, Jason Furst was seventh in the 25 backstroke and 12th in both the 25 freestyle and 50 freestyle.
Taylor Altergott, Noah Krueger, Levi Burlingham and Seattle Hart all placed in the 6 and under age bracket.
Altergott took eighth place in the 25 freestyle, 25 butterfly and 25 backstroke.
Krueger was 13th in the 25 freestyle and 14th in the 25 backstroke.
Burlingham finished seventh in both the 25 freestyle and 25 backstroke and Hart placed 13th in the 25 freestyle and 25 backstroke.
In the 7 and under age group, Dalton Knapp took 10th in the 25 butterfly and 13th in the backstroke.
Andrea Bair placed 11th in the 25 butterfly, 12th in the 100 I.M. and 13th in the 25 breaststroke.
Clark added that since the new YMCA has opened, the swim team has seen around 10 new swimmers, which is a very big positive for the program, "Now that we have more room to expand, we're just hoping we can double in size," Clark said.