COEUR d'ALENE - Somewhere in the middle of a mile-long swim race, 17-year-old Patrick Loftus, gunning for the lead, reached the far end of the Kroc Center pool, spun through a flip turn and splashed a blue wave onto the slippery deck.

The race was tight. Spectators cheered, coaches implored. Loftus broke the surface and accelerated, his arms swinging through the water, his legs churning a bubbly wake behind him.

Laps went by. Stopwatches ticked and tocked. After 5,280 feet of hard freestyle, Loftus reached for the wall and finished in second place.

On Day 3 of the Inland Empire Short Course Championships, with fast swimmers from across the Northwest racing side by side, it was a much better result than he had anticipated - the mile is admittedly not his best race.

"It's been great. It's been really exciting," Loftus said. "It's been great to see the whole team progress."

Loftus is a young man with a muscular build and smooth, powerful strokes. One of the top athletes on the Coeur d'Alene Area Swim Team (CAST), he plans to continue his swimming career at Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia.

"We're still in kind of the training mode, but it's been a great meet," Loftus said. "It's intense. This is what everybody's been looking for. The officials and the meet directors, everybody behind the scenes, they're doing a great job."

The Short Course Championships - so named because the pool is 25 yards long, as opposed to a 50-meter long course pool - began Friday and ran through the weekend. The team fared well at the Kroc Center, its home pond.

Paced by Loftus and other team leaders, the CAST Crocs finished second behind the talented Tri-Cities Channel Cats.

"I came into this kind of knowing it was going to be a real dogfight for second, third and fourth place," said CAST head coach Bob Wood. At the 2010 championships, he added, the Tri-Cities crew beat the Crocs by 350 points.

"We've shown progress," Wood said. "(The meet) gives us an opportunity in the middle of winter for all the good teams to get together. The kids just stepped up so big, it's just been wonderful."

Squads from Spokane, Sandpoint, Ellensburg, Walla Walla, Yakima and elsewhere - 14 teams altogether - attended the Short Course Championships. Including independent athletes, 356 swimmers raced on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The athletes varied in age; CAST competitors were all between 8 and 17 years old.

"It's fun," said Suzanne DeTar, 14, whose been swimming for five years. She likes the camaraderie of swim meets, hanging out with friends.

Her best race is the 50 freestyle. Sometimes it's hard to stay focused, she said, and sometimes competition can be nerve-wracking. To prepare for her race, "I just do my own thing," Suzanne added.

While the Croc youngsters were busy competing, many of their parents were hosting the meet. Over 200 volunteers handled logistics - they timed races, welcomed officials, provided food and offered hospitality to visiting teams.

The team had never hosted a championship event before this weekend.

"It's a huge operation. It's a massive operation," Wood said. "Our parents are No. 1."

Mike Jones of Coeur d'Alene, father of 13-year-old CAST swimmer Kyle Jones, was a chief timer at Short Course. He oversaw the timers alongside each block.

"Since this is a championship meet, each swim team is required to man a lane," he explained.

Short Course is an important meet for the swimmers, Jones said, and "a lot of these kids are looking for a time that qualifies them for a meet over in Seattle (sectionals)."

Up on the balcony overlooking the pool, Gerard Billington of Moscow sat watching the action on Sunday. His 14-year-old daughter, Kara, swims for the Moscow team.

"It's an endurance event for parents," he joked, referring to the long, multi-day events. "I think (CAST) is doing a great job. It's a lot of work to have a meet like this."