L-P/Ottawa swimming expects to be ‘a competitive team’

The La Salle-Peru/Ottawa girls swimming team took a big hit to graduation, but the Cavaliers still return experience despite more than half the team being made up of underclassmen.

The Cavaliers have two seniors in Christie Ricci and Emily Swanson and three juniors in Evelyn Clayton, Kailey Goetsch and Clara Guglielmetti.

Sophomores returning are Evvie Jeppson, Lily Mustered, Addie Nance and Anna Ricci.

Freshmen Makena Burke, Mikenna DeSpain and Lily Miller all bring youth swimming experience to the team.

“We’re looking pretty good in practice, but our first meet is Saturday [the Sterling Invitational], so we’ll know more about what we have from a competitive standpoint after that,” L-P coach Rob McNally said.

McNally said Goetsch and Guglielmetti have been swimming well.

“They are really standing out,” McNally said. “They’re both looking really good in practice. When I sprint them, they’re sprinting really well. I’m looking forward to what they can show on Saturday.”

McNally also is looking forward to what the Cavaliers’ relays can do despite losing seniors Peyton Heagy and Paige Marks, who are swimming in college.

The medley relay will consist of Nantz swimming the backstroke, DeSpain swimming the breaststroke, Mustered swimming the butterfly and Guglielmetti swimming the freestyle.

The freestyle relay will be made up of Jeppson along with three of the four swimmers from the medley relay.

“I’m pretty happy with the relays where they’re at right now,” McNally said. “We had to put new swimmers in the relays. But looking good in practice and in competition are two different things, so it’s really hard to tell whether or not the relays are going to be competitive until they actually get in there and compete.”

McNally said the team’s goals are to finish with a winning record and to try to qualify a relay or two for the state meet.

“We’re three weeks into a 15-week season, so they have plenty of time to work, and we’ll see what happens,” McNally said. “I’m looking forward to working with these kids. They’re a great group. I always appreciate the fact L-P and Ottawa can work together to form this co-op team. Between the two schools, I think we can field a competitive team.”

The co-op is made up of seven swimmers from Ottawa and five from L-P this fall.