The busy YMCA and club swimming championship seasons kicks off this week with two meets.

A number of Maine swim teams, including the Hurricane Swim Club, which swims at the Bangor YWCA, will send swimmers to a 2002 Speedo Championship Series Eastern Zone Sectional. The meet starts Thursday.

On Saturday and Sunday the state’s YMCA teams will gather in Orono for the 37th YMCA state championships.

More than 1,000 swimmers from ages five to 18 will take part in the YMCA state meet, which starts at 8:30 a.m. Saturday and finishes Sunday evening. The meet will be held at the University of Maine’s Wallace Pool.

Boys and girls aged 8-and-under, 10-and-younger, 12-and younger will swim Saturday. Swimmers 13-and-over will swim Sunday starting at 9 a.m.

Sixteen YMCA teams will compete, including the Bangor YMCA Barracudas, the Canoe City Swim Club of Old Town, the Piscataquis Regional YMCA Waves, the Downeast Family YMCA of Ellsworth, MDI YMCA Sharks and the Bay Area Swim Club of Belfast.

Admission is $2 for adults and $1 for students.

Four girls will represent the Hurricanes at the USA Swimming sectional meet at the Nassau Aquatics Center in East Meadow, N.Y. Kiki O’Donnell is seeded 23rd in the 200-yard breaststroke and 37th in the 100 breaststroke, and Lindsey Snyder is ranked 35th in the 200 backstroke and 39th in the 100 back.

Those two girls will compete with teammates Kayle Shapero and Kallie Pottle in the 400 medley relay, in which they have the 31st seed.

In addition, Kyle Robinson of Sullivan, who attends the Peddie School in New Jersey, is seeded 15th in the 1,650 and 16th in the 400 IM.

Swimmers from the Westbrook Seals and Coastal Maine Aquatics of Cape Elizabeth will also travel to Sectionals.

Three CMA swimmers who received performer of the meet awards at the Maine high school state championship meets have high seeds in a number of events.

Cape Elizabeth High’s Whitney Rockwell, the Class A girls swimmer of the meet, is ranked first in the 50 free, third in the 200 fly and fifth in both the 100 fly and 100 free. Tom Alberi, also a Caper and the Class A boys’ meet top swimmer, is 14th in the 100 free and 16th in the 50 free.

Sean Flaherty of Scarborough High, who took top swimmer honors in Class B boys, has the seventh seed in the 500, 1,000, and 1,650 freestyles. He is also ranked 11th in the 200 individual medley and 12th in the 400 IM.