Liberty’s swim team is back where it belongs: Hurricanes are in the pool, and Coach Reik Foust and assistants Evan Kocon and Jeff Matyus are on the deck, along with diving coach Emily Kocis.

“For me to see the kids so excited, I was really happy,” Foust said. “And I’m so happy my coaches decided to come back. I do miss (former diving coach) Jeff Zettlemoyer, but Emily’s excited and has been doing a great job these past few years.”

Foust got the green light from Liberty athletic director Fred Harris on Jan. 5 that the Hurricanes could resume practice on Jan. 7.

“I got the call Tuesday, later in the day, so it was until Thursday afternoon that we got everything situated,” said Foust. “Everyone had their physical forms, permission slips were turned in, the kids were absolutely fantastic, and attendance has been really good. We’ve had a really good 10 days or so.”

Sophomore Keller Pooley is the Hurricanes’ only diver this year, but Liberty’s swimming roster includes 18 girls and 25 boys.

Key returners for the girls’ team are seniors Madison Drager and Talia Lehr, both captains, Sarah Park, Sydney Taylor, and Monica Bruno. Dieruff transfer Julia Burch will also be a swimmer to watch this season.

Key returners for the boys’ team are senior Ben Service and juniors Patrick Gilhool and Addison Collins, all three captains, Danny Lehr, Corbin Eisenhardt, Jeffrey Eisenhardt, Caleb Stein, and Sean McGuire.

Liberty freshman Malcolm Collins will also be a swimmer to watch.

One key swimmer who won’t be returning this season is senior Seth Coleman, who was slated to be a captain, but decided not to swim this winter because of COVID-19 concerns.

Meets will look a lot different once the season gets rolling. While teams will only compete against other teams twice within their county, each team will swim at its own pool. The times for each event will be sent to the home team for tabulation, and meet results will be made available to the away team later that night or the next day.

“Our sprints look real good, but part of the get-up-and-go is having a kid in the lane beside you, so to the best of our ability, we’re putting scenarios together where they’re racing against themselves, the clock, their teammates, however they want to look at it,” Foust said.

Liberty’s season opener is scheduled for Jan. 19 against Nazareth, the home team. On Jan. 21, Liberty will be the home team against Nazareth.

“We don’t know who Nazareth will be putting in, so we might have to swim a little faster and sprint the whole time,” Foust said. “We’re not going to know.”