The 2018 Andalusia Stingrays are prepped and ready to hunt down a district title in Dothan on July 14.

“I feel these kids have come a long way from the first day of practice,” Stingray coach Darren Forry said. “We have taught them and trained them for this moment.”

Forry said the team is confident going into the district meet.

“This year was the first year in quite some time that we got a sneak peak of our competition with the addition of the Water World Classic Tournament,” Forry said. “Our swimmers know what to expect and are ready to perform.”

Weather has been an issue this year, but Forry said the team is prepared.

“We have a lot of first year swimmers this year and they have grown in leaps and bounds,” Forry said. “Rain dates have played a major factor in our development, but to conteract that we scheduled clinics to work on specific strokes and techniques in preparation of this event.”

Forry said that the team hopes to have many swimmers qualify for the state meet.

“In order to qualify for state, a swimmer must place in the top four at district or have a qualifying time based on the 16th ranked swimmer in the state from the previous year,” Forry said. “We already have numerous swimmers swimming at qualifying teams and look forward to seeing their performance at district.”

This year’s district meet will be held in Dothan at the Westgate Recreation Center.

The meet will be held on July 14 with the teams arriving at 8 a.m.

Warmups will begin at 8:25 a.m., and the meet will begin at 9 a.m.

Medals will be awarded for the first through eighth place in every individual event.

Medals will be awarded for first through fourth place in every relay event.

Swimmers that qualify will begin preparing for the state championship meet.

The state championship meet will be held July 27-28 at the Birmingham Crossplex on Bessemer Rd.