Sam Nauman is only a junior but has already cemented herself as one of the top swimmers in the 12-year history of the La Salle-Peru girls swim team.

The Henry-Senachwine junior is a two-time state qualifier and owns three individual team records, and also helped a relay to a team record last season.

This fall, L-P coach Rob McNally said Nauman’s goal is to break every team record.

“She stands a pretty good chance, although she’s going to have to beat some pretty good swimmers, including Peyton Heagy, who is still continuing her swimming career at Indiana State University,” McNally said. “She’s been motivated. She has a great attitude. She’s very coachable, and as a coach, that’s what you like to see is someone who responds to instruction and really pushes herself. She sets a great example for the team. I think she’s going to have a really, really good year.”

Nauman advanced to state in the 100-yard backstroke and 200 individual medley last season after winning both events at the Normal West Sectional.

“Her best event is the 100-yard backstroke, and she’ll probably swim that at the sectional again this year simply because of how good she is at it, but the other event is still up in the air,” McNally said. “She won the 200 IM at the sectional last year, so that might be the event she swims, but she’s a really good breaststroker and she’s a really good distance freestyler. She has talent that allows her to swim different things.”

Nauman headlines a strong junior class that will lead the Cavaliers this season. Nauman was named Swimmer of the Meet as L-P won the Sterling Invitational in its season opener Saturday.

Serena’s Finley Jobst and L-P’s Anna and Clara Weitl are other juniors who are expected to be among the team’s top swimmers.

Jobst, who McNally called “a very versatile athlete,” was close to qualifying for state last season in the 100 butterfly.

“I’m hoping she steps up and does it,” McNally said about Jobst qualifying for state.

Both Weitls had two top-5 finishes in Saturday’s invitational along with Ottawa sophomore Lillian Clayton.

“I have a whole bunch of talent on this team, and it’s been fun coaching them so far,” McNally said. “It’s hard to envision where everybody’s going to be at the end of the season, but I’ve got a bunch of great attitudes on the team this year, they’ve been practicing really hard, and I think at that moment it’s wide open for any of those juniors to do something really spectacular.”

McNally said he expects the Cavaliers’ 200 medley relay to be strong this season. The relay finished second in the Sterling Invite.

Nauman leads off with the backstroke, and Jobst will swim the butterfly. On Saturday, Anna Weitl swam the breaststroke, and Emily Lowery swam the freestyle.

“They’re going to have to drop a fairly significant amount of time to make it to state,” McNally said. “(The lineup is) still in flux. Once I get some times, I can work with and see where everybody is, there may be some adaptation of who I put where to try to make it even faster.”

Ottawa freshman Daysynn Kettman is a newcomer who is expected to make an impact.

“She is showing some promise,” McNally said. “She should be a pretty good addition to the team this year.”

With the returning talent along with newcomers, McNally hopes to improve on L-P’s third-place finish at the sectional last season, qualify swimmers for state and win as many meets during the regular season as possible.

“There were some tough teams in that sectional,” McNally said. “(Sectional champion) Washington really hasn’t lost a lot of talent. We finished third. I’m hoping we can improve on that, although it’s going to be tough.

“I’m looking forward to a great season because I’ve got a great bunch of kids on the team,” McNally said. “As the season progresses, we’ll find out more about where we’re going to end up.”