Check this out: Buerger, a junior, is one of the top freestyle swimmers in the state. In the WPIAL, he has the top time in the 200-yard freestyle (1 minute, 40.89 seconds) and the 500 free (4:34.80). His 200 time is almost three seconds faster than the second best, and his 500 time is almost 11 seconds faster than the second best.

Last year, Buerger finished third at the PIAA championships in the 200, and fourth in the 500. He already has beaten his best times of a year ago.

• Are good swimmers born or made? Half and half. You have to be comfortable in the water and you have to just enjoy being in the water. But you also have to have the discipline to have the right techniques, and you have to want to work hard.

• Is swimming the worst sport to practice? I would have to say yes. In football and basketball, you go over plays and other things. In swimming, you just get in and work hard all the time.

• Why does North Allegheny always have good swim teams? Great coaches, obviously, but not just at the high school level. Even before high school, there are good coaches at the club level.

• If you had a free plane ticket and a free ticket to the Super Bowl, would you go? But if you do, you miss practices Saturday and Monday? Wow. That's a tough question. I would probably go to the Super Bowl, but I would have to come in extra when I get back and do extra work. Or maybe I would take my coach with me to the Super Bowl.

-- By Mike White

The past week: A senior and one of the best girls' swimmers in the WPIAL, McAteer shined at the Westmoreland County Coaches Association swimming and diving championships last weekend, setting records in the 50-yard freestyle (23.96 seconds) and 100 freestyle (52.65). She also helped set a meet record -- along with Meredith Gibbon, Michelle Yakubisin and Holly Novacek -- in the 200 freestyle relay (1:44.62).

Check this out: McAteer, who doesn't play any other sports, will swim at IUP and plans to major in elementary education.

• Why have the times been so good this year? This year, I started lifting weights and that has helped so much.

• Why IUP? It was the best fit for me in swimming and in academics. I want to teach younger kids, and to be a second- or third-grade teacher. They have a great program, and I also really liked the swim coaches.

• People talk sometimes about the ridiculous diets swimmers have. Do you have any stories? I eat whatever I want and can eat just about anything. I burn a lot of calories, so I just go ahead and eat pretty much whatever I want.

• He took the country by storm last summer, but what do swimmers think of Michael Phelps? He is good looking, definitely, but I look up to him for his swimming accomplishments. I read a couple of articles that talked about how he puts his whole heart and mind into what he is trying to do, and I try to follow that, too.

• People cheer so loud at swim meets. But when you are swimming underwater, can you even hear them? Yes, I do. I hear everything. I can hear whistles and screaming and everything and it motivates me.

• Who is the best WPIAL swimmer? It would probably be Maggie Walker at Peters [Township], but I am gaining enough confidence that I think I can beat her this year.

• If you weren't a swimmer, what would be your sport? I did track in middle school, so I would probably say track.

-- By Colin Dunlap