A new season means a fresh start, the chance to right last years wrongs and in the case of the 2013-14 swim team it means new, younger swimmers who need to be led.

“They’re stepping up this year, which has helped a lot and has helped us in developing our kids,” swim coach Brent Mitchell said. “We lost a lot, last year but the kids that are here this year are starting to develop into what we need, and hopefully it’ll help us.”

With 16 slots to fill due to lost seniors, Mitchell said he has a team of tough swimmers that has grown close and supports each other.

“They’re a resilient group,” Mitchell said. “They’re a good team and a good family. This is a good group that will help each other, and I’m very proud of them.”

The girls team is coming off of a regional title and an appearance at the state championships. This year with 12 freshmen on the team senior Kathleen Sinor says the usual regression when adding younger swimmers has not been noticeable this year.

“I think the freshmen have really shown up this year,” Sinor said. “Normally there’s a few that come in and know how to do stuff [on varsity], but this year we’ve had nearly all the freshmen [on] varsity. Even [if they aren’t], they’re still with it and still understand what’s going on.”

Although last years team was one of the most successful in recent memory Sinor says that she believes this team can be even better because of the strong connection that they share.

“I think we’ve really bonded, more than we did last year,” Sinor said. “Just because of the way things happen and how we interact with each other. The girls team is awesome this year.”

For the guys this season presents the challenge of replacing captains Nathan Pantalion and Ethan Ho, along with ten other seniors, and is something junior Doug Schmidt says will be a collective effort.

“The guys team just has a lot of holes that we have to fill,” Schmidt said. “We had a lot of really good guys that left last year. [The] guys team needs to step up.”

Similar to the girls team, the boys team will have a plethora of young swimmers that will be responsible for filling big holes. Junior Gerardo Gaona said it’s the upperclassmen’s job to set the tone for the new swimmers.

“If we’re the team leaders and they’re looking up to us and we’re not working hard we’re just slacking off then that’s what they’re gonna do,” Gaona said. “We want them to look up to us and see us working hard so that they do that in the future when they’re team leaders”

With the teams going in different direction last season Gaona said that the success of the girls team adds pressure to the boys team but they are always happy to see the girls do well.

“There is definitely some pressure because we all want to be successful, but we are all very proud of the girls team and all the success they’ve had this year and last,” Gaona said. “[We] look forward to how well they will do at districts, regionals and state”

Despite the differences in the teams Gaona said that both teams are confident heading into the season and expect success.

“On the girls and guys side and we all just feel very confident that we’re going to do very good at the districts and regionals meet,” Gaona said. “The girls are going to dominate districts and regionals and us guys just have to fight really hard.”

story by Jarret Rogers // sports editor

contribution by Collin Thompson // online sports editor