With five returning state qualifiers in the pool, the 2014 women’s swim team is expected to finish their season off strong for conference and sectionals in the next few weeks, according to head coach Keith MacDonald.

The team had a rough start in beginning of the season, especially losing to rival Glenbrook North on Sept. 19, according to Captain Georgia Kotsinis. GBN won with an overall score of 77-109.

“In the past, they have been not big competition for us, but this year the meet was really close and [GBN] ended up winning,” Kotsinis said. “Those were some really good races and that was a big deal to swim against them.”

The team also faced an unexpected close race against Maine South on Oct. 16, according to Kotsinis. The final score was 95.5-90.5, with GBS coming out on top.

“We usually beat Maine South by a landslide, but this year it was getting pretty close to the end; our coach was sweating,” Kotsinis said. “We had to get [first] and [third place] to beat them by one point in the meet. We ended up getting [first] and [second place] and it was so amazing […] We did better than we needed to [do].”

In addition, the team also competed in the Titan Relays on Oct. 18 and finished second place out of eight teams. According to senior Kelly Cordes, the Titans excelled during this meet.

“[The Titan Relays] was a really exciting meet because everyone performed really well [and got their] season bests in one event too,” Cordes said.

Key swimmers on the team include Kotsinis, Cordes, Connie Chrones and Diana Capota, according to MacDonald.

Sophomore Sam Casey believes her skills have developed due to the leadership and hard work of the captains.

“They contribute a lot to the team, not only because they are some of the fastest girls on the team, but they are also good leaders,” Casey said. “I know personally swimming beside them in practice pushes me to go faster and work harder.”

The Titans use their losses competitors as motivation to practice harder each day, according to Kotsinis and Cordes.

“We’ve been practicing a lot of racing and working on not getting touched out in the end, and making sure [that] you’re giving it your all in each race,” Cordes said.

MacDonald believes this year differs from past years because of the loss of state qualifiers and key swimmers.

“We’re maybe missing a little bit of depth this year, so we’re a little bit weaker in our dual meets,” MacDonald said. “We’ve got a lot of our top end swimmers in our senior class, so we’ll just kind of lean on that leadership to help us this year.”

MacDonald hopes to qualify all three relays and a few individuals to sectionals for the State meet. The girl’s will begin the State series with the CSL Conference meet at South on Nov. 8.