FORT SILL, Okla. (Aug. 15, 2014) -- Three Fort Sill youth swimmers excelled in competition July 30 through Aug. 3 at the Amateur Athletic Union Junior Olympics in Des Moines, Iowa.

Swimmers competed in a preliminary round each morning with the top eight swimmers in each event

returning for evening finals.

Joshua Lujan, age 13, led the way winning silver medals in the 100- and 200- meter breaststrokes. He also set personal records (PR) in each event with a 1-minute, 18.58-second 100, and a 2:55.09 in the 200. He also set a personal record with a 2:26.26 in the 200-meter freestyle. Overall, Lujan

placed in seven events and set PR times in six.

Along with Lujan's exploits, Corey Grochow captured a bronze medal with a PR time of 2:18.17 in

the 200-meter freestyle. He PRed in two other events and placed in six individual events. Capping off a successful swim meet, Grochow tasted gold in both the 4x100-meter freestyle and the 4x50-meter freestyle relays.

Aiden Gray, the third Sill swimmer PRed in the 200- meter backstroke with a time of 2:58.89. Gray also placed in the 50-meter freestyle.

Victoria Ward, youth swim team coach, said swimmers set goals for various events and those were reached before Junior Olympics.

"I expected a little bit of a drop, maybe, but wasn't expecting five to six second drops in time," said Ward. "They literally blew their times out of the water," she said.

This year's success bodes well for the team's future as Ward's phone keeps ringing with swimmers interested in trying out for next year's squad.