LAYDENS TEAM UP TO COACH GATORS

It's not that Trevor and Jenny Layden didn't like the sound of their new hometown, but one of the first things they did after settling in Cape Girardeau was drop the "Cape" from the Cape Gators swim club.

The Laydens, the new coaches of the local swim club, want to expand the program -- and geographic boundaries were a good place to begin.

One in a number of improvements they seek in the club is expansion -- which includes drawing swimmers not only from Cape Girardeau but from throughout southeast Missouri -- so they made a slight change in the moniker in an effort to welcome more to the sport that has consumed a large part of their lives.

The Laydens, who were both swimmers at John Brown University, an NAIA school in Siloam Springs, Ark., coached the swim club in Valparaiso, Ind., before moving to Cape Girardeau on Aug. 15.

The Laydens were hired after responding to an ad in a national swimming publication. The Gators were left with an opening when previous Gators coach Scott Christie decided to leave.

Trevor, 31, has coached swimmers -- including his wife -- since 1989. Jenny, 24, has coached since 1991. Trevor was a four-time All-America selection and Jenny was an All-American once.

The Gators swim club, which has about 75 members, is a year-round age group program which has swimmers ages four to 17. Swimmers are divided into three groups: a beginning level, a level for swimmers who can swim all four strokes and an advanced level, "which is a pretty intense level," Jenny Layden said.

"It's really good," she said, "because there's a place for everyone. There's a place for little kids who really don't want to compete, but yet they want to learn and maybe eventually start competing. And there's a place for those highly competitive athletes that want to go out there and compete real hard."

The program, which in February hosts its Kiwanis Great Times Meet, has swimmers from Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Sikeston, Charleston, Scott City and Anna, Ill.

In addition to membership expansion, the Laydens would like to add a master's program for swimmers over 18. They plan to start the master's program in January.

Also, they instituted a summer AAU program, which allows less-competitive swimmers to compete during the summer.