The Pantagraph area has become a pipeline to the Division I college swimming ranks now that five swimmers have announced they will sign national letters of intent this week beginning today.

The Fast Five are Bloomington High School's Monica Drake (Arizona), Normal Community's Caitlin Hamilton (Purdue), Tri-Valley's Lauren Eytalis (Iowa), and University High's Kathleen Knight (Illinois) and Josh Davis (Western Illinois).

The first three in this group were members of the YMCA WAVES Swim Club.

"They found excellent programs to swim in and they all fit very well in those programs," said YMCA coach Charlie Yourd. "The most important thing is each of them can contribute and make a difference."

Joining the stampede to Division I is U High golfer Ben Kilborn, who is going to Western Illinois, while Kyle English has chosen Florida Gulf Coast.

NCAA champs land Drake

Drake, who placed 17th in the Olympic Trials 800-meter freestyle and 32nd in the 400 freestyle, chose a full scholarship from the reigning NCAA champion after also considering North Carolina, USC and Texas.

"They have a really good swim team to say the least," Drake said. "I like the location. I love swimming outdoors. They don't even have an indoor pool.

"As soon as I met everyone, I knew that was where I wanted to go."

Drake ranks fourth nationally this year in the 17-and-under age division with a 500-yard freestyle time of 4 minutes, 44.19 seconds.

For marks produced during the high school season, Drake holds Pantagraph area records in the 200 freestyle (1:51.40), 200 individual medley (2:07.26), 100 butterfly (56.79) and 500 freestyle (4:51.38).

"She's looking forward to the opportunity to make relays for Arizona," Yourd said.

Hamilton boils it down

Hamilton welcomed the chance to be part of first-year coach John Klinge's rebuilding Purdue program.

"He has so many good goals about moving the program to a new level," said Hamilton, part of a 19-woman recruiting class. "With my recruiting class especially, he's trying really hard to get a good group of girls."

Hamilton was 47th in the Olympic Trials 400-meter freestyle. She ranked eighth nationally this year in the 1,650-yard freestyle for her age group at 16:41.86.

Hamilton, who will be on full scholarship, also considered Tennessee and Northwestern.

"I fell in love with Purdue," she said. "My goals fit right in with John being a distance coach so that was really appealing. Everyone there is so passionate about moving that program forward."

Hamilton, who plans to major in pre-physical therapy, holds NCHS records in the 200 freestyle (1:53.77) and 500 freestyle (4:56.66).

New pool beckons Eytalis

Iowa also has an "up-and-coming program" which intrigued Eytalis. Plus, the Hawkeyes will open a new pool by the end of her freshman year.

Eytalis, who has a 500 freestyle best of 4:57.18, will compete in three freestyle events.

"They are starting to recruit a lot of faster people," Eytalis said of the Hawkeyes. "That will be fun for me, too. I'll be part of team that's getting faster."

Eytalis, who will be on a partial scholarship, chose Iowa after also considering Utah. She plans to major in integrated physiology.

Knight time for Illini

The atmosphere of the Big Ten Conference swayed U High's Knight away from Southern Illinois and toward Champaign.

"I wasn't originally planning on making an early signing because I only visited two schools officially," she said. "Once I realized the Big Ten is what I wanted to participate in, I took an early signing. It feels amazing to have that off my shoulders."

Knight, who will be on partial scholarship, holds a school-record 100-yard butterfly time of 58.92.

Knight's specialty is the 200 butterfly, which is not contested during the high school season.

Davis bound for Macomb

U High's Davis, who will swim for Western Illinois, is a two-time state qualifier. He placed 27th in last season's state 200 individual medley (1:59.25) and swam on two other state relay teams.

The versatile Davis also has bests of 48.91 in the 100 freestyle, 1:50.00 in the 200 freestyle and 4:56.65 in the 500 freestyle.

He has flourished in the pool despite having Asperger's syndrome, a type of autism.