MARYSVILLE The M-P swim and dive team has a new look after graduating 18 seniors from the 2005-06 squad.
Coach Scott Knowles said the 2006-07 team is pretty young and about 70 teens turned out to be part of the M-P chlorinated tradition.
Sophomore swimmer Trevor
LeValley and junior diver Taylor Gibson are the lone returnees with 4A state experience.
Knowles said that LeValley and seniors Klayton Schaufler, John Henninger and Andrew Hodgins are the teams most experienced swimmers. All four bring District 4A experience to the team.
Neal Haney and Keito Swan round out the five returning seniors.
Junior swimmer Aaron Goff joins Gibson as the only members of the Class of 2008 on the team.
Sophomores LeValley, Gabe Lopez, Andy Abadam and Brody Coleman are the quartet to be on the lookout for according to Knowles.
Classes of 2010 contributors include Oliver Durand and Brandon Caldwell.
Gibson and Blake Allen are two headline makers on the one-meter diving board for the Tommies.
The team is young this year, Knowles said. He pointed to 16-year-old Schaufler as an example of the teams youth and the fact that he is swimming two years above his grade level.
One of the team goals that Knowles and his crew would like to achieve is to hit state-qualifying times on or before their Dec. 14 meet at Snohomish High School.
I think both the 200-yard and 400-yard freestyle relays have decent shots, he said.
Four swimmers likely to have an impact on this years team are LeValley, Henninger Abadam and Swan.
Henninger, who has been swimming all four years at M-PHS, said his strong event is the backstroke.
My goal is to make it to state by the Kentridge Invitational after Christmas (Jan. 13), he said.
Swan, returning for his first full season after a debilitating traffic accident a little more than a year ago, said he wants to show everyone that Im not JV material.
I want to come back and show everyone I am not done, he said. I have unsettled business.
LeValley, fresh off the cross country team, said he is hoping to break a couple of school records before the season is done.
I would like to break the record in the 200-yard individual medley, he said.
He is currently less than one second away from accomplishing that in his favorite event and also has his sights set on the 500-yard freestyle record.