The future of the DeKalb-Sycamore girls’ swim team begins this year, as the varsity team will be made up mainly of freshmen. Seven freshmen came out for the team this year and most of them will be expected to make an impact immediately.

“I’m looking forward to see what this incoming freshman class can do,” coach Melanie Chambers said. “I’m excited to see what talent they have at meets.”

Despite the freshman make up of the team, many of them have a history together through the DeKalb County Swim Team.

“I feel more of a connection (with the other freshmen) because most of them are my age and I’ve swam with them before,” freshman Hannah Raetzke said.

Even the leadership on the team is young, with sophomores taking on a big role with the team.

“The girls who have returned, even some of the sophomore girls, have done a nice job of stepping into those leadership roles,” Chambers said. “They are doing a good job of showing the girls of how we do things around here and leading the way, making sure that they feel welcome and know what to do.”

One of those sophomores taking charge is Rebecca Nenonen.

“I’ve been trying my best to keep the team in line,” Nenonen said. “I luckily have some great freshmen who have joined the team and I’ve been friends with for a while. I’m going to try my best this season to have a great team.”

So far, the freshmen have delivered on the effort necessary to succeed.

"They're all very hard workers," Nenonen said. "I'm very impressed with the team we've built so far.

The young team has an uphill battle with a lack of experience and missing the offseason program.

“The girls haven’t raced in a while,” Chambers said. “Most of them were looking forward to a (club) championship meet in March and they didn’t get that. Normally they have more championship meets in July and August, but they didn’t get those either. I’m just excited to see them be able to get back into racing and competing.”

With all that time off, this young team is ready to get back in the pool and begin racing.

“Oh, I’ve missed competition so much,” Raetzke said. “It’s been a while. My last one was so fun. I know it’s not going to be like that one, but I really want to race against other swimmers who aren’t from DeKalb or Sycamore. It’ll be fun just to have the competition again.”