Veteran head coach Pete Rile begins his 28th year at the helm of the Whitehall program again with a similar recipe for success – a steady girl unit and a budding boys’ program.

The Zephyrs once again will have some familiar faces back for the winter as well as some promising newcomers helping them to remain in the thick of things in the East Penn Conference. Whitehall is coming off an 11-5 campaign for the girls’ and a 6-10 season for the boys’.

“We have about 16 girls coming back and about seven returnees on the boys’ side,” said Rile. “We lost some swimmers on both sides, but we do have a good enough core back to keep us where we should be.”

On the girls’ side, senior Autumn Kudilic, a three-year letterwinner, is among those veterans returning along with juniors Michaela Hendricks and Steph Sitar, both of whom were district qualifiers last year.

Sophomores Martha Giletto and Callie Lyle also figure to be regular contributors.

On the boys’ side, senior Jordan Rivera and sophomore Dan Jablonski, both district qualifiers, will set the pace.

Rile also expects to have his underclassmen contribute later in the season.

“It is a little early yet to see how they will work into the program,” said Rile about his younger swimmers. “We have a good bunch of freshmen girls who should help us. They are talented and can make a difference.

“We have a group of freshmen boys who are off to a good start. We’ll have to see how they all pan out for us.”

Increasing the program’s overall numbers and maintaining the talent level are constant goals for the Zephyrs.

“We’re young and not as experienced as we have been in the past,” said Rile. “But we still have to work to keep our numbers up a little and that can help tremendously. We do have talent across the board.”

Rile also is looking forward to a change in the schedule as his team will meet Easton and Dieruff and lose Emmaus and Freedom. Still, he anticipates another strong year when the Zephyrs once the season with East Stroudsburg South Dec. 13.

“We have seen about half the teams we did in the past,” he said. “It is a little different and we’ll have to figure some teams out and they also will have to do the same with us.

“The girls will be solid and should be .500 or better and the boys will be interesting. It is still a numbers game with them. We believe we can have a good unit at districts.”