As their 5-year-old daughter, Jacey, and her older sister, Natalie, 7, got in their starting positions for the 25-meter backstroke, their parents, Tiffany and Robert Regan, said they wished the circumstances were different.

Jacey, who was diagnosed with autism when she was 3, was to compete for the Glendale Gators swim club in the 7- to 8-year old division against her sister. Usually Jacey swims in the sixth lane in her own division, but at Windy Point pool, host of Monday's meet, there were only five lanes, bumping Jacey to Natalie's division.

"No one knows she's younger," said Tiffany before swimmers raced to the pool. She said she and her husband were worried people who didn't know Jacey would assume she was older and just a slow swimmer, fearing embarrassment for Jacey and wishing she could swim in her own age group.

Jacey fell behind in her heat, touching the wall at least 10 seconds after everyone else but she was greeted by a thunderous applause by coaches, parents and teammates.

Tiffany let out a sigh of relief. Jacey still had a smile on her face.

A year ago, the thought of Jacey swimming in front of a crowd and playing with kids her age would have been inconceivable to Tiffany and Robert because of her autism, but the Glendale Gators have given Jacey a social, safe place and helped her thrive.

"She'll go around to everybody and say, 'I'm on the Glendale Gators,'" Tiffany said Monday. "She's thrilled. To her therapist today, she ran in and said, 'Guess what, I have a swim meet tonight and I'm swimming backstroke.'"

Tiffany, a nurse, said she knew something was wrong when Jacey, then 3, started pulling her hair out and screaming whenever Tiffany touched her. Jacey also wasn't speaking more than one or two words. She took Jacey to a doctor in Richmond, expecting a diagnosis of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) or something similar.

"When I was there, I didn't expect to hear the word autism," Tiffany said. "I heard the word autism and just did not expect that."

Autism is defined as a "disturbance in psychological development in which use of language, reaction to stimuli, interpretation of the world, and the formation of relationships are not fully established and follow unusual patterns." According to the Autism Society, 1 percent of children ages 3-17 in the United States have autism.

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Glendale Gators swim club helps young girl with autism thrive