It was the opportunity of a lifetime for a group of high school swimmers.

And Seneca Valley Swim Club coach Tom Donati knew it.

Donati received a call last month from Mt. Lebanon coach Don Wagner.

Wagner had planned to take 20 of his swimmers to the Olympic Training Facility in Colorado, but six decided not to go.

"He called me up and asked if I had interest in taking six of my swimmers," said Donati. "I said absolutely.

"Coach Wagner and I respect each other a lot," he added. "He felt his kids and our kids would be a good mix."

Donati approached six members of the Seneca Valley Swim Club about taking the trip.

"I asked the six kids who I thought would benefit most from it," added Donati.

The lucky swimmers turned out to be SV seniors Scott Bowser, Chris Baker, Elyse Dobrick, junior Rose Snyder, eighth grader Abby Myers and Butler High senior Molly Evans, who has been a member of the SV Swim Club for three years.

The trip cost each swimmer about $500, though Myers' fee was waived because she had met the training center's time standard in the 100-yard freestyle of 59.6 seconds.

"At first, when coach asked me about going, I thought he was joking," said Bowser, whose specialty is the breaststroke. "Then I realized he was serious.

"At that point, I was like, OK, how am I going to pay for this trip?"

That's when Bowser's parents agreed to pay his share.

"They really wanted me to go and were willing to pay for it," he said. "That was enough motivation for me."

The group had only a couple of days to prepare after Donati had the trip approved by the school.

Donati, assistant coach Tom Fletcher and the six swimmers left on Oct. 26.

They encountered their first obstacle not at a grueling practice session, but while they were still on the plane.

"Our plan was to fly into Denver, and then from there we'd take another flight to Colorado Springs," said Donati. "Well, we got caught in a blizzard on our way to Denver and arrived late. We were running through the airport, trying to make our next plane. You could really feel the affect of the high altitude. Some people were really struggling with it and I thought to myself, boy, these kids are in for a rude awakening."

The swimmers' training began the next morning, with everything from time in the weight room, to practice in the pool, to running.

"I thought the swimming was the hardest part, by far," said Bowser.

"Each swimmer swam between 13,000 and 15,000 meters in the pool on Friday and then again on Saturday," said Donati, who last visited the training facility as a member of the University of Pittsburgh's coaching staff in the early 1990s. "That's equal to what Olympic swimmers do, depending on what time of year it is."

"That's the most swimming I've ever done," said Snyder.

The whole experience gave the swimmers a unique perspective that few people have the opportunity to observe.

"It was interesting to see what Olympic swimmers go through in a normal day," said Dobrick, who signed to swim at St. Francis University on Wednesday. "And it was a great way for us to get in better shape."

The high altitude wasn't through with the group. It made rigorous training even more difficult.

"You might not think the altitude would make much of a difference, but it does," said Bowser. "You swim one lap and can tell there's a big difference."

Each swimmer spent half the time in the pool taking part in group practice and the other half focusing on their specific events.

"We swam long-course meters," said Evans, who holds Butler school records in the 100 backstroke, 500 freestyle and 200 individual medley. "It was kind of tough, but I'm used to swimming endurance events."

"Swimming 13,000 meters is equal to 15,000 yards," said Donati. "It was brutal."

There wasn't much free time during the two-day training period.

"We'd get a couple of hours in the afternoon when we could come back to the room and sleep," said Baker. "And then a little bit of time at night. But that was it."

Myers, 13, has been invited to a swimming camp at the Naval Academy in May.

"I've been swimming for six years," she said. "When I first started, my best event was the butterfly. But over the last year, I've done pretty well in the (100) freestyle."

Just as important as the physical training was for the group, the mental aspect cannot be underestimated.

"I came back with the mentality that, if I made it through that, I can make it through anything," said Baker.