As the heat begins to peek back into the daily forecast, around 240 swimmers will seek relief at the Vicksburg City Pool for a few days.

The Vicksburg Swimming Association will host its annual Stamm Family Invitational this weekend. Its VSA’s lone meet hosting and welcomes ten teams from Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas.

Friday, swimmers 12-and-younger will compete in shorter, 25-meter courses beginning at 9 a.m. The course will switch to its 50-meter events later in the afternoon around 4 p.m.

“It’s a pretty good numbers for us, about average the number of teams that we usually get attending,” said VSA coach Mathew Mixon.

Saturday and Sunday the competition will run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. if the weather allows. With a threat of rain looming over the weekend, delays and cancelations of events might occur.

However, competition may continue in the absence of thunder and lightning.

With the most depth at the invitational, Mixon’s team is comprised of solid, all-around talent. His goal is for the players to finish in the top three of their events.

“We have our normal swimmers that are usually up there in the top,” Mixon said. “Tommy Martin, he’s one of our sectional level swimmers. He’s qualified for zones already. He’s usually up there in the top of the 13-14 age group. I saw Sarah Copes with the 11-12 girls is seeded way up.”

Blanton Mansfield and Tulio Figarola help anchor the ship of younger swimmers and round out the talent on the team.

“We’ll be in the top eight in a lot of events,” Mixon said. “Our goal is to move up into the top three. First is great but if we get into the top three in events then we’re doing pretty good.”

For some swimmers, the invitational will be their first meet since February or March. Mixon said it’ll be exciting to see those swimmers get back in the pool and compete.

Mixon said a swimmer usually makes big improvements with long absences out of the water.

“The kids grow faster than you think they do and they tend to progress pretty quickly, so it’ll be exciting to see them get some time,” Mixon said.