Talk about a quality quintet.

The Butler YMCA swim team certainly had one this season in Camryn Forbes, Mallory Marzolf, Brooke Zukowski, Abigail Jones and Taylor Petrak.

Those five swimmers comprised the girls team the Y took to the recent YMCA National Swimming Championships in Greensboro, N.C. They combined to take seventh place out of roughly 60 teams.

That marked Butler’s best-ever finish at nationals. Last year’s team finished 19th.

“It’s an amazing accomplishment when you consider the numbers,” Butler Y youth coach Corrie Jones said. “All of the teams that placed among the top six had 15 or more girls down there competing.

“A few teams showed up with buses full of kids. For us, it wasn’t the quantity. It was the quality.”

Forbes, 17, who is cyber-schooled and takes morning classes at Knoch, placed in all four of her individual events. She finished third in the 100-yard freestyle, seventh in the 200 backstroke, 11th in the 100 back and 15th in the 200 individual medley.

Petrak, 16, of Ellwood City placed seventh in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle. Zukowski, 17, a junior at Knoch, placed 15th in the 100 breaststroke and 16th in the 200 breast.

Forbes has been with the Butler Y program for 11 years. Abigail Jones, 18 and a Knoch senior, has been with the program for 13 years.

“I’ve coached those two since they were swimming in the 8-under division,” Corrie Jones, Abigail’s mother, said. “It’s been a thrill watching them improve their times year after year, all through hard work.

“For voluntary workouts at this pool at 5:30 a.m., before school, they’d be here. They never missed. Then they’d come back after school for regular practice.”

Jones and Jill McElhaney, a Butler senior, are the only girls who have completed their Butler Y youth team eligibility. McElhaney — who qualified for nationals, but could not make the trip — will swim at Washington & Jefferson next season while Jones is headed to Westminster.

“I’ll definitely miss this. I feel like I grew up in this pool,” Jones said. “I was here 13 years ... It’s going to be so weird swimming for and meeting a whole different team in college,

“But this is the way to go out. I’ve been going to nationals for four years and finally broke through.”

Jones swam with Forbes, Marzolf and Petrak on Butler’s 800 relay team that placed 16th. Forbes, Zukowski, Marzolf and Petrak comprised four other relays that placed: The 200 and 400 medley relays were fifth, 200 and 400 free relays 13th.

Forbes hopes to become a Division I collegiate swimmer after high school — Louisville and Indiana are among schools looking at her — and will head to Omaha, Neb. this summer for the Olympic Trials.

“I’m excited right now, but I know I’ll be nervous when I get there,” Forbes said. “My big goal is to reach the semifinals there.

“I’ve always loved the water. When I was little, I signed up for swim lessons all the time. I’m sure I’ll be swimming the rest of my life.”

Coach Jones emphasized that all of these girls are scholar-athletes. Forbes carried a 4.0 grade point average last semester and Abigail Jones is in the top 20 of her graduating class at Knoch with a 4.7.

Zukowski joined the Butler Y team last year. Also a high school swimmer at Knoch, she placed third in the 100 breast and fifth in the 200 individual medley at the PIAA meet.

“My other club team was falling apart and this one was close to home,” Zukowski said. “And I knew there were quality girls already here.

“The girls on this team support each other. If I had a hard set, they’ll make me laugh and feel better. We do that for each other. It’s constant encouragement.

Petrak, 16, tried swimming with the Butler Y team during the final two weeks of last season. Her and Marzolf are in their first full years with the program.

“I really liked it. I felt relaxed with the other girls and felt like I needed a change to perform at the level I wanted to be,” Petrak said. “It was a good decision, coming here.

“We all want to get faster in the water. Our goals are the same, so we naturally bonded with each other.”

Marzolf, 16, who also swims for Deer Lakes High School, agreed.

“I wanted to make the national cuts and get to the next level,” she said. “If I wanted to continue swimming in college, I felt like I had to make a change and join this program. We worked it out so I practice with my high school team once a week and the rest of the time, I’m here. I’ve been happy with this move from the beginning. I’ve developed so much more confidence in myself.”

Forbes is confident the team can finish still higher at the national level.

“I know we can. The other four of us will all be seniors and there’s some more talented swimmers here who will join our age group,” Forbes said. “This year, we proved we can do it. Next year, we want to improve it.”