As fall leaves spiral into winter snowflakes, the swim team turns their attention to the pool with new head coach, Karen Hamill, and assistant coach, Melissa Raeder, leading the upcoming season. With new coaches and 14 new freshmen, the team must work hard to hold their own throughout practice, regionals, and hopefully states.

“We definitely aren’t set up. Last year we were pretty much set up to go to states, but this year it’s gonna take a lot of hard work to get to where we were last year,” senior swimmer Hannah Hiscott said.

Not only did many senior swimmers graduate, but the team now has a younger face as more than 2/3 of the 55 swimmers on the team are underclassmen. What’s more, the new head coach and new assistant coach essentially face the same first year challenges as their freshmen swimmers.

“I think there will be more pressure on the freshmen, but I think it will be fine,” freshman Kaleb Chan said.

There are a lot of expectations the team must live up to following the mark they left at the state championships last season. The boys team finished in first place while the girls team received runner up in their division. With more than a handful of new swimmers, many of whom don’t participate in club swim, the pressure doesn’t only fall on the freshman, but also the returning seniors.

“The girls team is going to have a harder time making up the gap as we no longer have very many club players on their side, so that will be a challenge,” junior swimmer Sam Updike said.

However, the boys swim team did not suffer the same loss of star swimmers as the girls team did.

“In terms of the boys team, I think that we still have a lot of depth and talent on the team,” senior swimmer Justin Britton said.

But despite the loss of so many seniors, the team seems to be working hard to protect their impressive record. There are two pool practices per week on Mondays and Wednesdays at Yorktown High School. Dryland practices take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the George Mason main gym.

“Practices have been a good hard, you feel like you’re working out,” Hiscott said.

The swimmers and the coaches both come to a consensus that the team has enough talent to do well throughout the season.  

“I am confident that both the boys and girls teams will have a successful season,” head coach Karen Hamill said.

This confidence will be put to the test on December 9th, during their first meet of the season at Manassas Park Community Center. For a team with new coaches and so many new members, this will be the season where they sink or swim.