With Liberty’s swim season opening this week, what will be significant is the return to in-person dual meets and fans in the stands after last season’s COVID-regulated virtual meets and empty bleachers.

“That’s gonna be so big,” said Liberty head coach Reik Foust. “We’re really excited about that.”

No doubt, last season took a toll on all high school swimmers, affecting individual swim times and psyche.

“We talked to the kids about the weird changes that have happened to them because of COVID and not having interactions with other teams and day-to-day movements,” Foust said. “We talked about sportsmanship and being attentive to that on the pool deck. That can easily be forgotten, but we want them to acknowledge the other teams’ efforts and get them back to that. The dual meet situation is gonna be fun.”

First up for the Hurricanes will be a trip to Nazareth this Tuesday, past Press deadlines, and then a home opener on Wednesday against Pottsville.

“Our boys’ lineup is pretty easy to do because we have so many who can swim so many things,” said Foust.

Liberty’s boys’ lineup will be led by district and state finalists Patrick Gilhool and Addison Collins, who are also captains, along with Danny Lehr and Tim Wetmore, also captains, and Sean McGuire, Malcolm Collins, Corbin Eisenhardt, and Jeffrey Eisenhardt.

“It will be hard for other teams to figure out what we’re gonna do,” Foust said. “We have at least 10 guys who can swim multiple events and be very competitive.”

And with a roster of about 20 boys and 20 girls, some swimming four events during any given meet will be a necessity.

“Some will be happy, and some will cringe, but it’s a team sport,” Foust said.

Sarah Park, Monica Bruno, and Sydney Taylor are all returning and are captains for the girls, along with diver Keller Pooley, also a captain. Brooke Sergent is also returning.

“The girls’ lineups won’t be as flexible as the guys’,” said Foust, “but we’ll be competitive with what we have.”

Also returning for the Hurricanes are assistant coaches Evan Kocon, Jeff Matyus, and Emily Kocis, who is also the diving coach.

“Our goal every year is to qualify three relays for states on both sides and qualify four swimmers per event for districts, but there are so many things you can’t prepare for: how the meets flow, the interactions, different pool rules (with masking), so we will have to adjust and not let it get in the way of how we swim,” Foust said. “We always look to improve on the overall team from before, and it will be interesting to see how it plays out.”