In a swim meet, it’s a race against the clock as numbers tell the story. Likewise, numbers will likely play a big part in telling the story of the 2017-18 season for the Whitehall swim team.

Head coach Pete Rile said that it’s highly possible that this season could be the deepest he’s had since he began his illustrious career that’s spanned over four decades.

The girls have seven seniors returning from a squad that finished 12-4, giving them a solid foundation. They also have eight juniors, eight sophomores and 10 freshman, totaling 33 for the new season.

“Our numbers for the girls are phenomenal,” said Rile. “I haven’t seen a team this big since I’ve been here.”

Rile also likes the fact that the numbers are spread out evenly among their four classes. However, while low numbers pose a problem for the boys, the girls’ high numbers also create some issues.

“We have girls who want to swim, and they’re not going to get as much swimming time,” said Rile. “If we can spread it out and give everybody a chance and learn more about them.

“It’s a good problem to have, but it can lead to other issues.”

While a number of those swimmers may compete in multiple races such as freestyle and butterfly, Rile said that one of their goals at Whitehall is to make sure that everyone participates in each event during their swimming careers.

“I don’t always hit that goal, but that’s what our goal is,” said Rile.

Over the course of the season, he said that may have different goals, and that may dictate who competes during there sixteen-meet schedule.

The senior class includes Rasha Abdouche, Michaela Hendricks, Megan Herbine, Katherine Lutterschmidt, Caroline Martin, Rebecca Reed and Stephanie Setar. Of those seniors, Hendricks, Lutterschmidt and Setar qualified for the district tournament last season.

The junior class features Rachael Alulis, Eve Amaturo, Ariana Antero Navarro, Patricia Bartosh, Martha Gilletto, Shahd Habeb, Kallie Lyle and Hope Millets. Returning district qualifiers from the juniors include Alulis, Gilletto and Lyle.

The sophomores swimmers include Emily Cheng, Emily Haggerty, Ella Holmes, Sabrina Kidulic, Madelyn Kutney, Hannah Miller and Devon Roberts. Kutney is a returning district performer from this class.

The freshman on the team are Scarlet Abreu Gautreaux, Alexis Bartosh, Erika Croughn, Mabel Espinal, Ava Frederick, Allison Gallardo, Yasier Herrera, Jenna Rohrbaugh, Lindsay Solderitch and Brianna Uhnak. Rile said that their district returnees are well divided among their classes, and that’s another strong building block. However, he feels it may be difficult to duplicate last year’s record.

“That might be a standard to aim for,” said Rile. “I’m not quite sure we can get there; we have some holes to fill that we’re not sure we can fill with the girls, but we’re going to try.”

He’s also excited about their raw talent, especially within their large freshman class.

“They look pretty good,” he said.