PENN TWP — The Earl J. Birdy Trophy may not be heavy, but it took plenty of people to get it here.

Butler Country Club's swim team received the trophy after it won the Western Pennsylvania Country Club Swimming Association championship Tuesday at South Hills Country Club.

The trophy has existed since 1957. BCC won it only twice before in 1983 and 1984.

"This really was a team effort," said swimmer-coach Courtney Shields "Everything came together this year through a lot of hard work and effort from a lot of people."

BCC's swim team has 80 members and is the largest in the league. Shields, a Mars High graduate who only recently turned 18, and Butler graduate Adam Keelan, 19, are the squad's coaches.

Shields also was an active swimmer and was one of the team's top point producers.

"Every other team in the league has at least four coaches, so we needed a lot of help," Shields admitted.

They got it through some of the older girls on the team, Brianna Keelan, Anne Marie Bilott, Hillary Cummings, Stephanie Cummings and Morgan Morrison, who helped line up swimmers while Shields was competing.

"I've been swimming with those girls since I was 8," Shields said. "I've known them my whole life. We practically grew up together in the pool and they've always supported me.

"We needed a coach, I'm the oldest on the team, I've been a lifeguard here for two years. ... The coaching position sort of just fell my way."

Having a longtime friend and teammate become their coach didn't bother the younger swimmers.

"Everybody likes Courtney and she got the younger kids to focus," Hillary Cummings said. "She's always been a great swimmer and the kids look up to her. They respect her and listen to her.

"The older kids on the team knew we had to help out. Nobody minded it. It's just working with a friend and we believed in each other."

Shields completed her first year as head coach. Keelan has been an assistant coach for two years and is in charge of the team's 30 swimmers age 8 and under.

BCC finished second to Edgewood in the 2008 championships. Edgewood won its sixth consecutive league title that year.

"Our runner-up finish was unexpected. It came out of nowhere," Keelan said. "We had our whole team coming back this year and felt we had the potential to win it.

"We pushed the kids hard. We worked with them and they responded."

The swimmers practiced for an hour each morning five days a week.

"We conditioned them and they came together," Keelan said.

Also a lifeguard at the country club, Keelan has been teaching swim lessons to youngsters at the facility.

"I'm used to working with really young kids," he said. "I'm the oldest of four kids in my family and the youngest is 6. When I come to the pool, I have 30 younger siblings instead of three. That's how I look at it."

Ken Bedford, the Butler High diving coach, also is the diving coach at BCC. He worked with five divers in the program this summer, including Ben Lowery, who finished first in his age group at the championship diving meet.

"We finished second overall in diving and got to use those points toward winning the cup," Shields said.

"The parents of the kids did a ton of work, too. All Adam and I had to do was show up at the meets and coach. The parents ran the meet. They did all the scoring, the timing, the seeding. ... They've been amazing."

Shields placed in the state meet in three events as a senior and is headed to Xavier University this fall, where she also will swim. Keelan is entering his sophomore year at High Point University in North Carolina.

Both hope to return to coach the team next summer.

The Butler Country Club swim team had 32 swimmers and divers score points in the annual Western Pennsylvania Country Club Swimming Association Championships, enabling the team to win the event for the first time since 1984:First-place finishers Camryn Forbes: <B>age 9-10 girls 25-yard freestyle</B>Ben Lowery: age 11-13 boys diving<B>Camryn Forbes, Meredith Cummings, Rachael Wittmer, Meghan Dillon: </B>10-under girls freestyle relay<B>Brianna Keelan, Hillary Cummings, Courtney Shields, Anne Marie Bilott: </B>13-17 girls medley relay<B>Austin Wittmer, Noah Gumto, Chadd Cummings, Ben Lowery: </B>12-under boys medley relayOther placers SwimmingAryanna Napora, Elle Santora, Amelia Walls, Heather Wittmer, Matt Cummings, Cole Lassinger, Tre Bartony, David Bocci, Torrey Shields, Morgan Keelan, Erica Hunter, Nico Cicco, Ray Kahn, Ian Gumto, Sevryn Napora, Morgan Morrison<B>DiversLea Welker, Zach Misitis, Lydia Walls, Gavin Morrison</B>