Last year, Watertown's Aubrey Kettrick made her first trip to the Empire State Games and was greeted with more than a few surprises, one of which was swimming outside.

"It was an outdoor pool so I didn't know how I was going to do my backstroke since there was no ceiling for me to follow," Kettrick said. "Despite that, it was really fun."

Kettrick made the finals and finished in the top four in each of her events in the scholastic division. This year, however, Kettrick will be swimming in a familiar natatorium as the swimming events of the ESG, which run from Wednesday to Sunday, will be held at SUNY Cortland.

"The actual meet is where I swim districts where I swim Blue Sharks," Kettrick said.

Kettrick owns Frontier League and Watertown High School records in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 54.89 seconds and has won Section 3 titles in both the 50 and 100 freestyle. But she will compete in the open division's 100-meter backstroke this year at the games.

"I don't really practice backstroke but it's always been my thing." Kettrick said. "I practice during volleyball season because my legs are stronger during volleyball. Just because of volleyball training I always do well in backstroke."

Kettrick is training in Pinecrest, Fla., at the Pinecrest Swimming Camp to improve her time in the backstroke.

At Pinecrest, Kettrick was selected to the Elite Group at the two-week camp. Elite swimmers are chosen by the camp's coaches upon arrival based on their skill levels. Kettrick was very proud to be named to the top training class.

Kettrick said she wants to work on her stroke because of the different length of pool in which she will compete. In the Frontier League, Kettrick has been used to swimming 25-yard laps, or short-course races, during competitions. At the ESG, however, she will swim 50 meters a lap, something she says is more complicated than just waiting longer to touch the wall.

"It's a little more than that because there's only one journey after you attack your turn," Kettrick said. "My turn's usually my strongest when I'm racing."

Her coach at Watertown High School, Lori Peters, qualified for the ESG four times. Peters competed against some of the best swimmers in the state in 1988, '89, '90 and '91, and helped Kettrick prepare for the ESG tryouts early this summer. Peters reflected fondly on her memories of the games.

"It was great, it was like being at the Olympics," Peters said. "You felt like you were part of a different group. It was fun, it was exciting."

Kettrick agreed that her first time at the games was exciting, and that being in the opening ceremony's parade and traveling with her teammates were some of the highlights.

"She knew it was going to be tough going in," Peters said. "She didn't really know what to expect."

But the familiarity of the pool and the experience of racing against some of the state's premier amateur athletes from last year offer Kettrick a sort of been-there-done-that confidence this week even though she's moving up from the scholastic to the open division.

"Hopefully, I'm going to be in the top six going into the prelims," Kettrick said. "And hopefully in the finals I'll step it up and do better."

Peters shares Kettrick's confidence, adding: "Her backstroke's amazing. There are girls that swim the freestyle that aren't as fast as Aubrey in the backstroke. It's just one of those things, she kind of discovered it."