CATO #- Throughout its history, the Cato recreation center's Otters swim team has been relegated to traveling for all of its meets.

For years the center has not had its own clock and timing system. This left the Otters is a position where they could only have intra-squad meets and practice at home, while hitting the road to face teams from across the Niagara district, composed of areas such as West Genesee and Baldwinsville, as well as Rochester and Buffalo.

“We've had to use stop watches,” said Jennifer Dalziel, Cato aquatics director. “And they just aren't very precise and there is always the factor of human error, so they have had to spend a lot of time on the road traveling for competitions all over the place.”

Not that the team has had anything against a little travel.

“It is pretty cool,” said Matthew Perez, 12. “It is fun to go and swim against other teams.”

But there have been downsides to all the time traveling.

“You have to get up pretty early,” said Olivia Touron, 13. “And sometimes you have to go pretty far and there aren't always a lot of people there to cheer you on.”

But through a lot of hard work and a state grant, the Otters and the Cato recreation center have finally been able to get their own clock and timing system.

“We got it about a month ago,” Dalziel said. “We were lucky to get a state grant to help us get it. It keeps much more accurate time. This will allow us to host our own swim meets right here. The coaches and parents are still getting organized and learning how everything works, but by the fall we should be hosting some meets.”

The ability to host meets and expand on what the facility has to offer has come as a great boon to the community and the recreation center.

“I think people don't really know what we have right here,” Dalziel said. “I think this helps us to show exactly what we have to offer right here and showcases our facility a little bit more. And it will allow us to have more meets at home, which I think everyone is pretty excited about.”

Even though all the time on the road can be grueling, this season has been a lot of fun for the team.

“This is my first year,” said Jackie Schwanke, 9. “My mom surprised me and signed me up. But it has been a lot of fun. I really like swimming and I really like learning new strokes and getting better.”

Whether in competition or intra-squad meets or just a practice, the Otters are always pushing themselves to get better.

“You have to challenge yourself,” Perez said. “That is the best part. I like to swim and it is good exercise and it is fun to compete against other swimmers, but you are always challenging yourself to get better times and do better. That is the best part.”

For those like Touron, who has been on the team for four years, the members of the team have become close friends, making for a tight-knit group.

“I have a lot of friends on the team,” Touron said. “It is somewhere nice to go after school and to try to get better and get your times down and compete with your friends a little bit.”

Over the next couple weeks the Otters will be wrapping up their season with several more travel meets across the state. But already they are looking toward next season.

“I think it is going to be even better next year,” Schwanke said. “This was my first year and I learned a lot, like new strokes and hook turns. And I think next year I'll be even better.”

But at the forefront of the minds of many on the team is the chance to host some home meets.

“I think that will be pretty cool,” Perez said. “We won't have to travel as much and more people can come here and see us and I think it is going to be a lot of fun to have meets here.”