Joliet Township girls swimming coach Nick Koenig said himself that this year’s team was mostly made up of freshmen and sophomores. It was a roster with a lot of youth and inexperience, so it was important for them to lean on the three seniors they had.

So Thursday night, Joliet’s senior night, they decided to honor them with a win.

Joliet faced off against Lemont at Inwood Athletic Club for a two-team meet Thursday with Joliet coming out the winner, 105-65. It was a nice close out to the regular season for Joliet and a nice final home meet for seniors Erin Mosier, Ava Gombosi and Alaina Potocki.

“(Swimming) really helped me find a place,” Potocki said. “I made so many friends and it really was a great experience. I got to grow as a person and live out my high school experience to its fullest.”

A family that swims together, too. Joliet won nine of 11 varsity events Thursday evening, including two each for Mosier (100 breaststroke at 1:16.74 and 100 freestyle at 59.1) and Gombosi (100 backstroke at 1:02 and 200 IM at 2:18.93).

“I came in as a freshman and I was so scared and as the years went on we really built a family,” Mosier said. “It really is just a big family.”

Gombosi was also on the first place 200 medley relay team that finished first with a time of 2:05.76. Gombosi and Mosier were both on the 200 freestyle team that finished first at 1:48.70.

“It’s been a really special (four years),” Gombosi said. “I swam with a lot of these girls since I was little. I’m sad to leave but I’m excited to see what the next four years have.”

Gombosi said she’ll either swim or run track in college.

Other winners for Joliet Township were Lila Abbott 100 butterfly, 1:08:45) and Keira Mosier (500 freestyle, 6:03.35). As a team, Joliet was also victorious in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 4:07.13.

“Overall we’ve had a mediocre season as far as wins and losses,” Koenig said. “We’re just trying to get faster each meet and we’ll see what happens when we get to sectionals. I hope we can get a swimmer down to state which is always the goal.

“These seniors have done a really good job of leading this young team. We’ve really counted on them to show the younger kids the way to swim and we’re grateful to them for that.”

Don’t be deceived by the final overall score of the night, though. Lemont competed well throughout the evening as it has all season. While they have a smaller roster, they still have big goals for conference and sectionals coming up soon.

“It’s always high energy when we come to Joliet,” coach Michael Forsythe said. “We had some great swims and they had some great swims and I’m very impressed by their team. Ava is just a phenomenal swimmer as are the rest of their seniors. We wish them good luck.

“Our swimmers swam their best all season long today. It was a good final meet for us to get ready for conference at Oak Forest.”

Ashley Breszach won the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:18.36 while Justin Kate Oberes won the 50 freestyle at 26.99 to give Lemont two victories on the evening.

“Our team had a lot of really good energy,” senior Kelsey Gottardo said. “It was nice to get to swim some events we don’t get to swim all of the time. It was great to support each other and get one last good meet before conference.”

Lemont’s conference meet will be Nov. 1. Joliet’s sectional meet will be at Homewood-Flossmoor November 8.