Hubbard coach Mike Barringer comes into a program with a state qualifier - senior Joey Spurio, who made it in the Division II 100-yard butterfly.
But, it's more than Spurio's success the first-year Hubbard coach is concerned with this season.
Barringer, a 2008 Boardman High School graduate who later swam for Westminster College, wanted to change the perception of the Eagles program.
"We're expecting to see some improvement, but not necessarily in terms of their times," Barringer said. "It's how they look at practice and how they look at meets. Our aim is times, but for us, it's got to start how we attack practice in order for us to see results. We have to attack practice the correct way.
"It's a completely different way of doing things."
Plenty of progress was made last week in the team's opening event.
"In their first meet last week, 15 of the swimmers had career best times," Barringer said.
Hubbard native and Ursuline senior John Tomko, who swims the 200 and 500 freestyle, made it to state last year.
"John Tomko is on track to be a top contender this year at the state meet," said Tomko's coach, Craig Yaniglos. "He has already competed in meets this season with faster times than he swam at states last year. He is training very hard to make it in the top eight in February at Canton."
Blake Anderson, a Badger sophomore who swims in the same events as Tomko, looks to make districts this year.
"Blake Anderson has been getting faster meet after meet and trains all year round," Yaniglos said. "He has already swam lifetime bests this season and look for it to be another very successful year. We are working on finishing much higher at sectionals this year with the ultimate goal of reaching the district meet in Cleveland."
Tomko, meanwhile is one of the area's best swimmers, Yaniglos said.
"John Tomko is definitely one of the best swimmers in the area because his dedication to the sport is absolutely tremendous and he trains non-stop to achieve his goals," Yaniglos said. "He has continuously gotten faster since he was 11 years old and I look for him to continue to get faster."
Speaking of state qualifiers, Boardman senior Ryan Bailey proved himself in Division I. He took third in the 100 butterfly and eighth in the 100 breaststroke.
He is the only returning member of last year's state qualifying 200 medley relay.
It was Bailey's second straight trip to the state meet.
In the butterfly, he was three-tenths of a second away from first place. Cincinnati St. Xavier's Ian Wooley was second, Westerville South's Jared Higdon was sixth and Xenia's Andrew Cole was seventh in that event last year.
"We're hoping for a possible state champion," Boardman coach Terry O'Halloran said of Bailey.
On the girls side, three of the four legs of the 200 medley relay return in seniors Colleen Manning, Gaby DeAscentis and sophomore Brooke Bailey.
The 200 and 400 free relays, along with the medley relay, broke school records last year.
O'Halloran is hoping to get all three to state this year with a seven-swimmer rotation.
"We have a pretty good chance to get relays into the state meet," he said.
Another possible state qualifier, O'Halloran said, is sophomore diver Lily Testa.
Canfield's team has been one of the best in the area for years. This year is no exception.
Sophomore Connor Brady, who was on the 100 backstroke and 400 freestyle relay, and junior Daniel Bogan, who went in the 100 and 200 freestyle, made it to state last year.
Besides Brady and Bogan, some Canfield names to watch are: Kyle Anderson, Mallory Allen, Sarah Heaven, Michael DiDomenico, Olivia Williamson, Nick Montalto, Theresa Mikolay, Maggie Beistel, Adam Weiss, Mike Cardone, Drew Bennett and Ally Chiu.
"My team will be successful this season because we only lost a few seniors last year and have gained a good freshman class," Canfield coach Andrea Linnelli said. "The team works well together and have set goals to obtain. The boys would like to go undefeated this season and qualify relays and individuals to the state meet again and the girls team is working hard to qualify a relay and individuals to the state meet."
Speaking of state-bound athletes, Cardinal Mooney had one last year in Joe Boniface, who placed sixth in the Division II 50 freestyle and 14th in the 100 backstroke at last year in Canton.
While he left for the University of Cincinnati, this year's Cardinals team is still the largest one in its nine-year history.
There are 20 swimmers part of the Cardinal Mooney program and 16 of them are girls.
Annie Boniface, Nicole Clark, Lexie Kleeh, Maddie Leek, Taylor Tofil and Beth Zeno are some of the standouts for the Cardinals.
"When you only have five its very challenging to fill out an entry sheet," Mooney coach Dr. Tom Boniface said. "With 16, you can spread them out. I think this year our relays will be very competitive.
"Team is the largest we've had yet, larger than I've anticipated. I'm very pleased by that. Swimming is like track, the more numbers you have, the more opportunities you have."
The Cardinals practice at the Youngstown YMCA with the YMCA Neptunes, a club program.
These swimmers usually compete in invitationals for the regular season then come to sectionals in February.
Another club team that hosts Trumbull County swimmers is Penguin Swimming, based at Youngstown State University. This program, coached by Greg McAtee, trains swimmers from Howland, Lakeview, Grand Valley, Youngstown Christian and Western Reserve.
Makayla Morrow, a senior from Youngstown Christian, advanced to state last year in the 100 breaststroke.
Howland's Aimee Gysegem and Brandon Sekanick, Lakeview's Nick Preston, Grand Valley's Joey Ray, Western Reserve's Jamie Stahl and Youngstown Christian's Makayla and Jessica Morrow are some of the club's top returners.
And, there are some newcomers as well.
"We have been working extremely hard up to this point in the season," McAtee said. "We have seen consistent swims, even though we are swimming tired right now. The kids are doing all of the little things needed to be successful."
As for Poland, it had a Division II state qualifier in diver Celia Meilillo.
The Bulldogs are hoping to send a swimmer for the first time in more than a decade to state, but there's something else on the collective mind of Poland swimming - unity.
This is the first time in a couple of years the Bulldogs have all swam together at one spot. Because Poland's levy passed recently, the Bulldogs don't have to swim at separate spots to gain practice time.
"This year has been a rebuilding year for all of us since the levy passed," Poland coach Kristen Kuntzman said. "We have been separated where we've been swimming the past couple of years. This year, we're all back at YSU swimming.
"My goal this year is for the kids to be successful growing as a team. Everybody is swimming at the same time and at the same place."
South Range's team, which has five swimmers, trains with the YMCA Neptunes.
"We are growing as a team and are looking forward to getting more swimmers in the future," South Range coach Kathy McKee said. "I feel we are going to have a successful year because of the dedication and loyalty that they have shown to the swim team."
