The Bangor-based Hurricane Swim Club doesn’t train or have meets at a YWCA anymore. But the Hurricanes are still heading down to the YWCA Junior/Senior Swimming Championships this week thanks to an unexpected partnership.

The Hurricanes will compete at the national meet in North Carolina under the banner of the MDI YWCA, which agreed to allow the Hurricanes to use its affiliation to gain entrance into the competition.

Thirteen members of the Hurricane team will travel to the Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center in Charlotte, N.C., for the meet, which starts Thursday and ends Sunday.

Jane Shapero, the president of the Hurricanes’ Board of Directors, organized the collaboration, which grew out of the Hurricanes’ move from the Bangor YWCA.

The YWCA meet has been a staple on the Hurricanes’ calendar, especially because the team held practices and meets at the Bangor-Brewer YWCA for 17 years.

But last year the YWCA and the YMCA facilities in Bangor merged to form the Bangor Y, and in 2003 the YWCA and the Hurricanes clashed over pool time. The merged Y decided to maintain its affiliation with the Bangor YMCA swim team, the Barracudas, and the Hurricanes moved their practices to the Husson College pool in Bangor, severing ties with the Bangor YWCA.

The Hurricanes didn’t have a YW sponsor for last year’s meet, either, but they were grandfathered in. This year the YWCA’s national office mandated that teams participating in the meet had to be affiliated with a YWCA.

The Hurricanes didn’t realize this until this winter, when Shapero started making phone calls to YWCAs across the state.

Both the Portland and MDI YWCAs were willing to let the Hurricanes use their affiliation, and eventually the Hurricanes went with the MDI YW.

“It’s very nice that they both agreed to allow us to do this,” Shapero said. “There’s nothing for them to gain but they were both understanding and supportive.”

The Hurricanes qualified 18 swimmers, 13 of which are going to North Carolina. All 13 are now official members of the MDI YWCA, which is the only benefit the organization receives in exchange for allowing the Hurricanes to use its name.

The Hurricanes traveling to the meet are Erin Doucette, Michelle Gist, Jessica Hodsdon, Kallie Pottle, Mara Shapero, Drew Desrosiers, James Moreside, Taylor Wicks, Brent Williams, John Williams II, Caleb Woodward, Mitchell Pottle and Josh Woodward.

Swimmers compete in one of two age groups, 13-and-under or 14-and-over.

“It’s a good meet for our kids,” Shapero said. “Most club teams stop after the Winter Championships [in March]. This is a big meet, they get to travel, and it’s a great thing for our kids to work toward.”