Sparta - What do you get when two Sparta fifth-graders dive into a pool? Winners! That’s what. When Holly Rudel first swam across the pool at age three, her parents knew she had potential; after all, she is a Pisces. Rudel’s swimming career began at age six when she joined the Aqua Gems group, based out of Warwick and Middletown, New York. Rudel later joined the Empire State Swim League, and is also a member of USA swimming, a highly competitive, nationally based program that includes in its roster most U.S. Olympic swimmers. For the past three years, Rudel has had the distinguished honor of making the waves necessary to become a member of the NY Metro Junior Olympics. Her first year in the relay race; her second in backstroke events and relay races; and in the last year Rudel swam in seven individual events, in all strokes including the individual medley. She placed eighth in backstroke, and fifth, sixth and seventh in the various relay races and qualified to move to the next level, the Zone Qualifiers. Although Rudel continues to move up the high-dive ladder, she hasn’t forgotten her roots. In the summer she swims with the Cruiser Club and the Lakeland Swim League. Brianne Kehoe is also making a splash in the sea of competitive pools. At age seven, this fifth-grader took the plunge into the competitive circle as a member of the West Morris YMCA swim team in Randolph. This past year has been Kehoe’s most successful as she consistently placed at or near the top in all her events in both USA Swimming and YMCA meets. Kehoe qualified to swim in the Holiday Classic held in December at Rutgers University, which is a prestigious USA Swimming meet, and also qualified for the YMCA State Championships at Princeton University, where she competed in the 200-yard individual medley, 100-yard individual medley, 1-yard backstroke and 5-yard backstroke. Kehoe finished 16th in the state for the 200-yard freestyle and in the top 25 in the state for her remaining events. This young Spartan has been ranked as a top 25 swimmer in New Jersey for several of her events. During the off-season she’s no fish out of water: Kehoe swims for the YMCA and for the North Jersey Regional Lake League.