By Cort Reynolds
On Sunday, July 7 Ada's Lily Baumgartner met a long-term goal by qualifying for the national AAA swim meet in the 50 butterfly.

She will now compete in Wisconsin on Aug. 1, at the highest level she can in the nation for her age group in USA Swimming.

Baumgartner, an incoming seventh grader at Ada Schools, is 12 years old and will be a part of the State of Ohio Team which will compete in the Central Zone championships.

The USA Central Zone Swim Championships is an All-Star format held each August where athletes represent their Local Swimming Chapters (LSCs).  

There are 60 LSCís in the country, organized into four USA Swimming Zones: Central, Eastern, Western, and Southern. Ohio is one of fifteen LSC's in the Central Zone.

Baumgartner is a standout for the Ada Alligators West Ohio Aquatic League summer swim team, and also competes for the Lima YMCA Barracudas in winter swim - both YMCA and USA Swimming. The WOAL championship meet is at Bluffton July 12-13.

She participates in Long Course swim right now for USA Swim with Lima YMCA under coach April Dorman.

Lily recently competed in the North Regional Long Course Championships, and she walked away as champion in the 50 butterfly and the 100 backstroke.

She previously qualified for the Ohio Junior Olympics at Miami University in mid-July in the 50 fly, 100 fly, 200 fly, 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke.

Baumgartner then qualified for the national AAA meet with a time of 32.07 in the 50 fly and will represent the entire state in the national competition Aug 1.