Northampton head swimming coach Gwen Whildin expected to have her team endure some growing pains with a handful of experienced swimmers among a small squad. She also expected to see her team jell at this point of the season through the emphasis of daily basics.

"It is difficult to qualify the start of the season," said the veteran coach. "I had hoped by now we would see teamwork and commitment by our swimmers. Certain individuals have grasped the basic concepts of training and are seeing good results."

As a result, Whildin is seeking a more unified effort down the stretch.

"One-third to one-half of our team has treated attending practices as a matter of convenience," she stressed. "They do not recognize the consistency of attending and performing on a daily basis as the route to success.

"We need to keep stressing and working the basics if we are to have success in the pool this winter."

Whildin stated her girls' squad is performing as expected as they have a 2-3 record heading into this week's action.

"We're off the start we basically predicted," she said. "But we had hoped for some new school records to be set. If we can remain consistent, we still have time for that to occur."

Junior Madison Bernal, a transfer student from the International School of Curacao, continues to do well in the sprints and butterfly for the Kids. Fellow junior Emma Steirer has qualified for districts in the backstroke and individual medley and teammate junior Paige Knouse also will make the trip to districts in the sprints and butterfly. Freshman Rachel Pursell has also been consistent for the Kids all season, as she qualified for districts in distance freestyle swims.

On the boys' side, the Kids have fielded a team of only eight boys, five of them who have competed on a regular basis. Juniors Cory Ninos, Nick Pavlacka, and Joey Szerencsits have all qualified for districts.

Junior Kyle Iasiello has been the biggest surprise as the new comer to the sport and team recently qualified for districts.

"Kyle (Iasiello) is a great kid, very coachable, and a dedicated hard worked," said Whildin. "In a matter of eight weeks, he (Iasiello) has gone from being barely able to make one length to being invited to districts."

Overall, the boys' team is 0-5 heading into this week's action mainly due not having any divers on the team. Yet, they have managed to stay within striking distance of most teams this season including a one-point loss to Allen.

"That was hard to take," said Whildin on the defeat to Allen. "In reality, we out swam Allen and should have had that victory. But in every dual meet, we are behind by 13 points because we have no divers."

Despite a relative slow start, Whildin believes her team can make a splash in the new few weeks.

"We need to be consistent and keep covering the basics in attending and performing," she noted. "If we can accomplish this, we will see overall better team performances in the near future."