The Troy Tiger Sharks swim team is going to the state tournament in Birmingham after finishing third in the district tournament earlier this summer.

Nicklaus Chrysson, coach of the 13 to 18 year olds, said that 22 swimmers will be going to the state tournament out of around 30 that participated in the district competition. Individuals who placed in the top four in their district events qualified to move on to the state competition.

“I think we did better than we expected to in the district tournament,” Chrysson said. “Not everybody got to go to state, but everyone tried their best. We feel fairly confident that we’ll bring in a trophy in something at state.”

The state competition is the final portion of the tournament, so this year’s journey will be over for members of the tiger Sharks when the tournament ends Saturday. This is the chance for the swimmers to come home with a first place finish in their event for the state.

The third place district finish for Troy was out of only four teams that participated in the tournament, but Chrysson said that its more about individual swimmers placing in their events than it is about the team’s finishing spot.

Events that Troy’s swimmers will participate in include the 50-meter freestyle, 50-meter backstroke and the 100-meter butterfly.

The team score is based on the compilation of all the individual scores. The tournament will have much more than four teams since individuals from numerous teams across the state finished in the top four of their district events.

The Troy Tiger Sharks include swimmers from ages 6 to 18.