SLIPPERY ROCK — Small, but powerful.

That may be the best description of the Slippery Rock summer swim team, which recently qualified four for the Long Course Eastern Zone Championship in Richmond, Va.

The team only has 40 swimmers.

“We qualified two for the Eastern Zone in 2017,” coach Robin Plank said. “This is the first time we qualified four.”

The Eastern Zone Championship took place last weekend. Mollie Massella competed in the 200-meter butterfly while Connor Wallace competed in the 50 freestyle.

Avery Grossman (50 breast) and Natalie Carlantonio (100 back) also qualified, but did not make the trip due to family commitments.

Massella placed 25th in the 200 butterfly, swimming the event in 2 minutes, 46.75 seconds to break the team record for the third time this season. Wallace was 37th in the 50 freestyle.

Both swimmers also swam a leg of the Allegheny Mountain Association's respective 200 and 400 medley relay teams. Massella's 400 relay unit placed 12th. Wallace's 200 and 400 relay foursomes were 14th and 12th, respectively.

“Those relays were like the Allegheny Mountain's all-star teams. That's how they were put together,” Plank said.

Slippery Rock qualified 10 swimmers for the Allegheny Mountain Junior Olympic Championship, held at the University of Pittsburgh's Trees Pool in late July. Five of those swimmers — Carlantonio, Wallace, Massella, Grossman and Kendall Krenn — were finalists in their respective events.

“I'm proud of the fact we got 10 swimmers down to Pitt,” Plank said. “We have limited resources compared to a lot of teams.

“We use the Slippery Rock University pool and it's 25 meters long. Long course is 50 meters. Those kids in Pittsburgh train in a 50-meter pool every day and we held our own against them.”

Strength and conditioning coach Kyle Herron was equally impressed with the team's performance in the long pool.

“When you can't train in a 50-meter pool and you're suddenly competing in a pool that size, it can be daunting,” Herron said. “You feel like the lane is never going to end.

“It can work on a swimmer mentally and our kids overcame that.”

Overall, Slippery Rock swimmers broke 10 team records this summer. Two years ago, only 10 percent of the roster was registered with USA Swimming.

This season, half of the roster was registered.

“USA Swimming started a flex program where a kid can pay $30 and compete in two or three meets,” Herron said. “If they enjoy it, they can continue to compete in USA (Swimming) and pay the difference later.

“It costs about $100 to register for USA Swimming for the entire season. The flex program offers a more affordable option and I think that encouraged a lot more kids to give it a try.”

Slippery Rock's program accepts swimmers at all ability levels and forces no one to register for the USA portion of the program.

“We encourage it because competition shows kids what they have the ability to do,” Plank said. “We had a 10-year-old, Parker Book, join (USA) this year and he broke our team record in the 50-meter breast in his first meet.”

Book swam the event in 52.52 seconds, breaking a team record that stood since 2011.

Of the 20 Slippery Rock swimmers registered for USA, 13 advanced to the Allegheny Mountain Swimming Silver Championship meet in Penn Hills last month.

Plank credited Herron's strength and conditioning work for the improvement in a number of swimmers.

“We did some things in the pool this year we had no business doing,” she said.

Herron said he adjusted his training style this year.

“We focused more on the core strengths this time — upper body and back,” he said. “We focused on technique in the pool, too.

“We showed the kids Olympic swimming videos as an example. And the kids held their technique throughout swimming those long races. That's a credit to them.”

Slippery Rock's registration for the fall season takes place from 9 a.m. to noon Aug. 24 at SRU's Morrow Field House pool.

2019 club record settersMollie Massella (11-12): 100 butterfly, 200 butterfly, senior 200 butterflyConnor Wallace (13-14): 400 freestyle, 50 breastNatalie Carlantonio (senior): 200 freestyleParker Book (10-under): 50 breastSarah McCandless (13-14): 50 breastKevin Bowser (13-14): 50 butterflyTruett Patrick (13-14): 50 back