A month ago, Adam Eckstein was scrambling just to earn a shot at competing against some of Mississippi’s best swimmers. When he jumped into the warm-up pool at the Mississippi Swimming state meet, he thought he might do well.

By the time he left the competition pool for the last time that day, he wasn’t just angling for a spot among the state’s best. He’d earned a chance to see how he stacks up against the rest of the country.

Eckstein swam the 50-yard backstroke in 31.72 seconds that day, nearly two seconds faster than his previous best. It qualified him for the USA Swimming sectional meet March 12-15 in Atlanta, where he’ll compete against swimmers from eight other states.

“I was amazed. I just made the state time two weeks ago and then I made sectionals,” Eckstein said. “I was really nervous, because I was .29 seconds off in the morning. I prayed really hard, then hopped in and made it. I feel like it’s amazing that I did it. I didn’t think I could physically do it. It hasn’t sunk in yet.”

Eckstein might have had one of the most surprising performances at the state meet, but he wasn’t the only one from the Vicksburg Swim Association to qualify for the Eastern Zone Southern Sectional meet at Georgia Tech.

Andrew Fields made it in the boys’ 50-yard breaststroke, and Ann Elizabeth Farthing in three events — the girls’ 50-yard butterfly, 50 freestyle and 50 breaststroke. It’s the first time since 2012 that any VSA swimmer posted a sectional qualifying time.

All three swimmers are 12 years old and compete in the 11-12-year-olds’ age group.

“Those are the ones that are here morning and afternoon since August,” VSA coach Mathew Mixon said. “I’ve been putting that goal out there all along, and they showed me how they can rise to the occasion.”

Farthing might have done that more than any of the VSA swimmers. None of them made their sectional qualifying times until the state meet, then Farthing did it three times. She swam the 50 fly in 30.48 seconds, the 50 free in 26.64 and the 50 breaststroke in 34.27.

Farthing was comfortably ahead of the qualifying times in the freestyle and breaststroke, but made the cutoff for the butterfly by a hundredth of a second.

“I looked for the clock and was like, ‘I did it! Did I do it? Is that right?” Farthing said with a laugh. “I’m really excited. I’ve been working really hard for a long time. I thought I could do this, and all of a sudden I can.”

Farthing’s finished third in the breaststroke at the state meet, and has her sights set on doing better at sectionals.

“I’d like to go 33, and it would be awesome to make it back to the top 10. And maybe win,” she said.

Fields’ story, meanwhile, is a combination of both of his teammates’. Mixon said Fields was more of a name on the roster than an elite swimmer a year ago, but has made tremendous progress since then. His state meet time of 35.71 seconds in the 50 breaststroke was .08 seconds ahead of the qualifying standard for sectionals.

“A year ago, Andrew was shy about qualifying even for state. He had a breakout year,” Mixon said. “He started realizing he could race and be at the top, and he got a taste of it.”

Fields said he’ll compete and do his best at the sectional meet, but was looking forward to the trip to Atlanta as much as the meet itself.

“We’re taking a big SUV with us,” Fields said. “Our coach says he’s going to treat us to ice cream or steak. That’s a good time.”