With all the people milling around, it was hard to notice Gardiner - until she got in the pool. Then, the junior was easy to spot. She was in front.
Gardiner captured the Division B 50- and 100-yard freestyles in 25.77 and 55.51 seconds, respectively.
``It gives me experience to swim here,'' Gardiner said. ``I just came in confident. I know I can swim.''
Gardiner works out with the Burlington County YMCA's Hurricanes for two hours every night. Her mother and Bill Sepich are the coaches. It's from there that Gardiner knew of some of the competition she was going to face.
Her father was beaming with pride after Saturday's performance, especially considering the circumstances.
``Swimming for the Y is great camaraderie,'' Paul Gardiner said. ``It's hard because her school doesn't have swimming. But I know she's developing good friendships, lifelong friendships at the Y. They put in a lot of miles there.''
Gardiner was understandably a little apprehensive about her first high school meet.
``She kept asking, `Who's going to be there? Who's doing this?' '' her father said. ``I kept telling her she had a good shot. I really expected her to do really well. I expected her to be in the hunt for one of the top three spots.''
The coach submitted the times for his daughter in both events, and it earned her the top seeds. He is also planning to enter her times for the state meet.
``It will be nice for her to swim against the high school swimmers, against some of her friends,'' Paul Gardiner said. ``She won't have a final taper for it, but it will be fun.''
Keller proves versatile. There were 11 double winners in individual events at Saturday's two-division competition, and Shawnee's Joel Keller probably had the most impressive performance.
