Ken McVay|The News Herald|#Lindsay Scott is like most 12-year-old girls in many respects.

She's involved in soccer, tennis, ballet and takes piano lessons. She also enjoys pulling the pranks that children are famous for.

But it's the time Scott spends in the swimming pool that's turning her into a fierce competitor.

Saturday in the 18th annual Sailfish Invitational Swim Meet at the Panama City Swim and Tennis Club, Scott won two events and finished second in another to lead her Panama City Swim Team to second place in the three-day meet.

The Playground Area YMCA Swim Team leads the team competition with 450 points with PCST second with 320. Following in order are: Greater Pensacola Aquatic Club, 214; Tyndall Tigers Swim Team, 84; Bluewater Bay, 76; Area Tallahassee Aquatic Club, 59; unattached swimmers, 40; Birmingham (Ala.) Swim League, 29; and Maclay Swim Team, 6.

Scott finished first in the 11-12-year-old girls 50-yard breaststroke and the 50-yard freestyle, while taking a second place in the 200-yard individual medley.

It was that second-place finish in the middle of the three events that caused her to get her ``game face'' on prior to the 50-yard freestyle.

``I don't like losing,'' Scott said matter of factly. ``I'd rather finish third or fourth than to finish second. I figured that after I lost the 200 IM that I needed to concentrate on the freestyle.''

She spent a few minutes in the warm-up area collecting her thoughts -- and playfully pouring some water on a teammate -- before she went out and scorched the field in the 50-yard freestyle with a winning time of 27.77 seconds, nearly 11/2 seconds faster than the second-place finisher.

Scott comes from a swimming family. Her father Robert swam at the University of Florida and her brother Michael is a member of the PCST team. Lindsay learned how to swim at age 1 and started competing in races at age 7.

``I've been doing it so long that it seems like second nature,'' Scott said. ``I have a lot of fun swimming, but it's not the only thing that I do. I play soccer, have started playing tennis, do ballet and am taking piano lessons.

``It seems like my mom is constantly driving me or my brother from one thing to another. I don't see how she does it, but I couldn't do it without her.''

Scott finished third in the 500-yard freestyle on Friday night, the first time that she has competed at that distance. She got to swim against the senior swimmers, ages 17 and up, thanks to winning a bet with PCST coach Jennifer Hilliard.

``At the last meet, I wanted to swim the butterfly and Coach Jennifer said that I couldn't. We bet that if I finished in under 35 seconds that I could swim against the seniors and that she'd have to swim a 500-yard race in practice.

``I finished in 34.5 to win the bet and she hasn't paid up yet.''

Scott and some of her PCST teammates will leave next week to compete in the Southeastern Junior Olympics in Memphis, Tenn. It will be the second time that she has attended the meet.

``I finished 8th in the 50 free and 14th in the 100 breast the last time that I went to the Junior Olympics,'' Scott said. ``I want to improve on my times, but I won't be disappointed if I don't finish first or second to qualify for the nationals.

``I figure that I've still got the best years of my swimming career ahead of me. I will only be 16 years old when the next Olympics comes around, so I'm shooting for the year 2000.''

Playground's second-day lead was made possible by the strong showing of Jasson Velez, Lynsay Madley, Nicole Temples and Tonya Rasor.

Velez, who won all three events he entered on Friday, swept four more on Saturday in the 15-16 age division, winning the 100-yard breaststroke, the 200-yard individual medley, the 100-yard freestyle and swimming a leg on the winning 200-yard medley relay team.

Madley won two 15-16 year old girls division events Friday and three more Saturday: the 200-yard individual medley, the 100-yard freestyle and swam a leg on the winning 200-yard medley relay team.

Temples won three events in the 13-14 girls on Saturday, the 100-yard breaststroke, the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard freestyle. Rasor captured first place in two individual events, the 10 and under girls 200-yard individual medley and the 50-yard freestyle, as well as swimming on the winning 200-yard medley relay team.

PCST's Joey Darnell won four events Saturday, the 11-12 boys 50-yard breaststroke, the 200-yard individual medley, the 50-yard freestyle and swam a leg on the winning 200-yard medley relay team.

Panama City's Joel Davis won three events, the 100-yard breaststroke, the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard freestyle in the senior boys division while Heather McCormick won the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard freestyle and finished second in the 100-yard breaststroke in the senior girls.

Competition in ages up to 12 will start at 8:30 a.m. with swimmers ages 13 and up starting at 12:30 p.m. today.