Four swimmers came home state champions and other team members broke personal records by seconds as the Natchez Swim Team competed in the state meet in Cleveland.

&uot;They were all knocking off time,&uot; said coach Tammy Whittington. &uot;I’ve never seen anything like it.&uot;

The under-eight-year-old 100-yard individual medley relay team of Margaret Ward, Madilyn Cross, Katie Steele and Taylor White took the state title from lane seven, which is normally a bad lane to start in for swimming. Ward swam the backstroke, Cross completed the breaststroke, Steele performed the butterfly and White swam the freestyle.

Ward also won a state title in the 25-yard backstroke. She also placed second in the 50-yard backstroke. Cross finished in second place on the 50-yard breaststroke, losing by just two-tenths of a second to the winner.

Steele grabbed three second place finishes in the 50-yard backstroke, 25-yard butterfly and 25-yard backstroke.

Other athletes performed well as well. Sarah Bryan trimmed three to four seconds off all of her times in the butterfly and breaststroke. events.

Daniel Hazlip cut six seconds off his 50-yard butterfly, in which he placed third. He also took two second place finishes, one in the 25-yard freestyle and one in the 50-yard breaststroke.

Rudy Timm swam well in all five of his events. He touched the wall in second place in the 25-yard butterfly, in third place in the 25-yard breaststroke, the 50-yard freestyle and the 25-yard freestyle. He ended up in fourth place in the 25-yard backstroke.

&uot;They had a great day. Everyone of them,&uot; Whittington said. &uot;I don’t know if the felt like they were in the Olympics&uot;