The varsity girls’ swimmers had a busy day on Sat, Feb. 11. In addition to the Winter Formal dance, many of the girls had another commitment: Sectionals.

Sectionals is the first meet of a three- week championship series that concludes each season of high school swimming. Swimmers compete in Sectionals with the hopes of qualifying for Districts, which in turn qualifies for the State meet.

Despite distractions from the dance, as well as other small problems faced during the meet, members of women’s team managed to perform well, with several swimmers going into the District meet with high rankings.

Outstanding swims came from Katie Caldwell, 11, ranked 16th in the 100 backstroke, and from Dominique Bookwalter, 10, who after a slow start on the medley relay, managed to place seventh in the 100 backstroke going into Districts.

Samantha Wolkoff, 11, who has never competed in Districts before, made the meet in all four events this year.

“I moved up 18 places in my 200 freestyle, and am going into Districts ranked 18th,” she said. “This is very exciting especially because I was borderline on making it to Districts going into the meet.”

The women’s 400 freestyle relay, consisting of Charlotte Harris, 12, Sarah May, 11, Cara Norris, 9, and Wolkoff is seeded third at Districts, and is perhaps the most likely relay to qualify for the state meet.

“I am so proud of this relay,” said Norris, who leads off the relay with its fastest split. “I love all of the girls on it, and I really want us all to make State,” she said.

The swimmers will travel to Miami University on Sat. Feb 18 for Districts, which will begin at 4 pm. The state meet will take place at Canton High School on Feb 25 and 26. The team hopes to qualify at least one relay and several individual swimmers; qualifiers will be posted on www.swimmeet.com.