The swimming and diving teams hope to build off their successful season last year and hang yet another banner on the walls of the gymnasium.

Last year, the Giants clinched a pennant against Tam for both boys’ and girls’ swimming and diving.

“We knew it was going to be tight going in, but we also knew if we swam our best we would win. It was definitely close because Marin Catholic and Tam have strong swimmers as well that were juniors last year,” captain Sarah Herzer said.

This year, while the team is still strong, it has lost many key swimmers on both the girls’ and boys’ side that gave the team an edge in previous years.

According to Herzer, the biggest scorers for girls last year were Emma McCarthy and Elizabeth Duncan, both of whom now swim at the collegiate level. For the boys, Jake Racich and Giorgio Cico were key scorers who are now graduated.

However, Herzer believes the team will be able to repeat last year’s success because the team has a strong senior class and a couple of strong underclassmen.

“We have a good amount of underclassmen that will make an impact and help rack up points. Every year we have a few strong underclassmen that can help us out a lot,” Herzer said.

According to Herzer, sophomore Claire Birchenough will be a key asset to the team this year. She competes on a club team and attended junior nationals this past year.

“While we may have lost some swimmers it’s good to know that we have upperclassmen and underclassmen filling these holes,” Herzer said.

As for the veterans, Herzer and senior Emilio DeSomma will be leaders as they have experience from previous years.

At the MCAL championship meet DeSomma helped push the boys’ team to a victory and has already been even stronger this year.

“Last year was a strong team, but I do think this year we have some strong upperclassmen who know how to lead the team,” coach Fred Ferroggiaro said.

Last year, the team racked up 450 points on the boys’ side, led by DeSomma, who won the 200-yard individual medley, 100-yard backstroke, along with a 200-yard medley team that set a meet record with a time of 1:37.21.

Returning from an MCAL championship last season, the swim team hopes to replicate its success this year.

So far the team has had six meets and has gone undefeated. It defeated Marin Catholic, a strong competitor in MCAL. The team also defeated Tam, its biggest competitor in MCAL.

“At this point we all just need to come together as a team and get those easier points, then work our way up from there. We are a pretty deep team, which helps us out a lot,” Herzer said.

The team has a few more meets that will decide the rest of the season. The Giants will compete at San Rafael today at 4 p.m.