Two First Presbyterian Christian Academy swim teams placed in the top 11 of their divisions Saturday at the Georgia independent School Association state meet at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta.
The varsity girls finished 11th and the junior-varsity girls finished ninth. The event drew 28 teams.
Four swimmers qualified in individual events. Kathleen McGovern swam varsity and placed fourth in the 100-meter butterfly, sixth in the 500 freestyle, and seventh in the 200 freestyle.
Maria McGovern, competing in the JV division, placed third in the 50 butterfly and sixth in the 100 individual medley.
Also competing individually were JV swimmer Kat Hoover and varsity swimmer Julianna Hensley, both of whom achieved personal-best times, including a 25-second drop for Hensley in the 500 freestyle.
The JV relay medley team of Mariana Foster, Maria McGovern, Kat Hoover and Cara Jones finished eighth.
Also competing at the meet were Brittany Williams and Kelcey Hoover, who also achieved personal-best times in their relay swims.
Having all four junior varsity and four of the varsity swimmers qualify and compete at the state swim meet was a big accomplishment this year for the FPCA program.
After a four-year hiatus, the program reorganized last year under the direction of coach Bridget McGovern.  
Since she took the helm, the team has grown from one JV and three varsity swimmers to four JV and eight varsity swimmers.  
Five of the 12 swimmers on the current team had never swum competitively until this year. Despite the lack of experience, the JV team placed for points in all five regular-season meets.  The varsity missed out on placing at the Stratford Invitational on Dec. 8 in Macon, where six of the team members were out due to illness or injury.