The senior trio of Ashley VanWormer, Cynthia Juarez and Emily Thompson (left to right above) will lead the way for a young Warsaw girls swim team this season.

WARSAW – The three senior members of the Warsaw girls swim team want to make their final season a special one.

The trio of Ashley VanWormer, Cynthia Juarez and Emily Thompson will be counted on heavily by coach Nate Long this campaign.

The Tigers boast a bevy of inexperience this year as more than half of the 18 members of the girls’ team are first-year swimmers, according to Long.

The senior trio, none of whom are planning to swim competitively after this season, though are a strong group to lead the way for Warsaw. VanWormer won the 100 breaststroke event at sectional last season to earn her second straight trip to the State Finals. Juarez captured a sectional title in the 500 freestyle for the Tigers to also advance to State her junior season.

VanWormer definitely has a couple of big goals in mind for her final prep season in the pool.

“I really want to get the school record in the breaststroke this year,” said VanWormer. “It’s definitely in reach. That would be really nice. I also really want to make it to stay at the second day of State (for the finals).

“I do feel pressure this year because we have so few seniors on the team. I just try to encourage the younger girls we have on the team and tell them to stay with it. The breaststroke was the only event I knew how to swim coming in and now I can swim all the events. It’s been fun.”

VanWormer’s top performance in the 100 breaststroke race is 1:07.75. The school record time for the event is 1:06.32.

Juarez would love to head down to Indianapolis again at the end of her final season.

“My big goal this year is to get back to State,” said Juarez. “My main goal in the 500 is to go under 5:20 this season. I would love to see us get a relay to State too. That would be pretty neat. I just want my senior year to go well. We are a close team and it’s great to be united and to be able to motivate each other.”

Thompson, who swam the 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke in the sectional last season, is focused on getting better.

“I just want to improve this season,” said Thompson. “That’s very important to me. The 400 relay is really my favorite event because I get to swim it with my teammates.”

Long’s team, which placed second at the sectional last season, opens the campaign on Saturday in the Goshen Relays.

“Our three seniors will need to lead the team with so many first year swimmers this season,” Long said. “I want to see Ashley and Cynthia be at State on Saturday.

“We just need to have our young girls develop this season and work with them to become all event swimmers. Our goal is to compete in the NLC and our sectional at the end of the season.”

The home opener for the Tigers is also the Northern Lakes Conference debut on Nov. 30 versus Wawasee.