Six-year olds Britt Fugmann of Nicholasville and Courtney Younger of Lexington led the Highbridge Aquatics 8 & unders in the Kentucky State Championship meet held Feb. 29 in Louisville.

Both young girls scored in the top eight in every event in which they competed. Britt Fugmann finished second overall in the state in three events, the 25 and 50 yard Freestyle and the 25 Butterfly. She also finished third in the 25 Backstroke and fourth in the 25 Breaststroke. Fugmann also set three new team records with an 18:55 in the 25 Free, a 42.29 in the 50 Free and a 23.48 in the 25 Fly.

Courtney Younger, voted "swimmer of the meet" by her coaches, also medalled by finishing third in the State in the 25 Butterfly with a time of 23.58. Courtney also scored in the top eight with a fourth in the 25 Free (21.43), a fifth in the 25 Back (25.46), and eighth in the 50 Free (48.59) and 25 Breast (30.85). Courtney's twin brother, Cameron, was the third swimmer able to score in the top eight with a sixth place in the 25 Free (23.07) and 50 Free (52.50) and a seventh in the 25 Breast (37.98).

Highbridge honored two young swimmers for having outstanding meets. Eight-year-old Emily Kerns of Wilmore had personal best times in all four of her events, and dropped a total of 44.53 seconds. Six-year old Ellie Barber of Nicholasville was perfect in all five of her events with a total drop of 14.62 seconds, and nearly scored in the 25 Butterfly with a ninth place finish overall.

The top eight-year-old swimmer for H.A. was Emma Ferrier who barely missed scoring in the top eight with a ninth place finish in the 50 Fly. Other top performances of the day came from Jenna Martin, who dropped 8.69 seconds in the 50 Fly, Ann Louise Cooper, 8, who swam the 50 Back in 51.09, and Madison Linebach, 8, who finished the 50 Breaststroke in 54.49 seconds. Other H.A. swimmers who posted best times included Kristin Lawless, 8, Evanne Whitten, 8, Dalton Linebach, 6, Michael Peck, 5, and Carly Fugmann ,4.