Ten Athens High School swimmers will be striving to put in their best times this weekend at the Class 6A-7A North Regional swim meet in the hopes to continue their swimming season.

The meet takes place at the Huntsville Aquatics Center Friday and Saturday, with the swimmers with the top times advancing to the state meet in Auburn later this month.

Five boys and five girls from Athens will be competing in the regional.

Senior John Ray Gentilcore will compete in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard backstroke. Junior Connor Hill will compete in the 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard breaststroke, while junior Evan Alexander will particpate in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard freestyle.

Two underclassmen will also compete, as freshman Noah Bowman and eighth-grader Bo Hoover will take part in the 50-yard freestyle.

On the girls side, four Athens swimmers will compete in the 50-yard freestyle, with juniors Emily Driskell and Madelyn Farmer, sophomore Sydney Byington and freshman Anna Holland competing.

Farmer, Byington and Holland will also compete in the 100-yard freestyle, while freshman Claire Martin will take part in the 200-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly.

Both girls and boys teams will compete in the 200-yard medley and the 200-yard freestyle relay events.

Individuals and relays placing in the top three in each event will automatically qualify for the state meet. In the event that multiple swimmers tie for third place, both swimmers will qualify for state.

Any relay or swimmer who achieves the posted state meet time standard at the sectional meet will also qualify.

The state meet will take place Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 at Auburn University’s Martin Aquatics Center.

The Athens swim team is coached by Anna Underwood and Robin Holland, and Underwood said no matter what happens at this weekend’s regional meet, it has been a very successful season.

“They’ve had a great regular season, with a lot of time drops and personal best swims,” Underwood said. “Coach Holland and I are very proud of their hard work and commitment to reaching both personal and team goals.”