MADISON, Wis. -- Hundreds of young swimmers in all age groups invaded Madison's Ridgewood Pool on Thursday for the preliminaries of the All-City Swim Meet.

SLIDESHOW: View 2007 All City Swim Meet Images

About 1,600 boys and girls are set to compete in this year's four-day tourney on the city's West Side.

Despite their age, several young athletes were impressive during the first day of action.

In the girls' ages 11 and 12 50-meter backstroke, Middleton's Emily Tiedemann won her heat in a time of 35 seconds flat. On the boys' side, Jose Alvarez from the city's West Side, proved to be the man to beat with his time of 34.7 seconds and nabbed the win, WISC-TV reported.

Alvarez said that he's always had a special affinity for the backstroke.

"I've always actually liked backstroke and when I was a little kid, I would stay on my back and I didn't like to get my head wet," Alvarez said.

For Tiedemann, those cheering her on were her prime motivations for winning her heat.

"My family is here and that makes me want to swim faster and do my best," Tidemann said.

Among the 13 and 14 year olds, Katie Delaney of Middleton won the girl's 100-meter backstroke with a time of 1 minute 10.59 seconds. On the boys' division, Drew Teduits from Nakoma set a new pool record with 1 minute 4.52 seconds in the 100-meter backstroke, WISC-TV reported.

"For a second, I thought I was going a little slow but then I sped it up and I felt I did really good," he said.

"It is a really fun time and the coaches get dressed up and it's just so much fun and you get so stoked about it," Delaney said.

Stay tuned to WISC-TV and Channel 3000 for continuing coverage.