With a new season just under way, the women’s swim team is focused on achieving goals and winning meets.

A young team whose roster doesn’t feature one senior, the Storm will rely on hard work and a passion for swimming to achieve their goals.

“It starts with having hard working people who aren’t afraid to dream a little bit,” Coach Aaron Strain said. “They need to understand this is where we are now but that’s not as important as where we are going.”

Last year the Storm won their first meet in four years. They look to build on that win and put some new times in the record books.

“One of our team goals is to win three meets,” Strain said. “The girls we have are some of the fastest that we’ve ever had on our campus. I would expect to break half the school records this year.”

The Storm got the season under way Oct. 31 when they traveled to Luther for a three-team meet. On Nov. 14, they competed at the Morningside Invitational in Sioux City. They finished third out of five teams. Freshman Keely Goshia broke the school record in the 200-yard butterfly by 13 seconds.

“We know having a small team it’s more difficult to win meets so we are working on dropping our times and getting better as an entire time,” sophomore Janine Kobylinski said.

The Storm have shaved valuable seconds off their times in the two weeks between the first two meets. The 200-medley relay improved by over five seconds.

Getting a relay to the national meet is another item on the goal list. There has only been one Simpson College swimmer to qualify for the NCAA meet in school history and Strain hopes this year’s team can qualify at least one relay.

Sophomore Lauren Frodyma will swim fly and relay events for the Storm this year. She began swimming at an early age before choosing softball over swimming prior to high school. After sitting out last year with a knee injury, she is one of the new swimmers that are looking to make an impact.

“I missed it so much that I’m ecstatic about this season,” Frodyma said. “It’s exciting because we have a lot of new people. We have a lot bigger goals this year.”

The team is hoping their hard work will be the key to success. They’re in the pool at 5:30 am Monday, Wednesday and Friday for an hour of swimming that is followed by a workout in the weight room. That is in addition to their daily two-hour afternoon practice.

“I think that with the way we’re practicing our times will continue to drop throughout the year,” Frodyma said.

The Storm will host two meets this weekend. On Nov. 20 they face Coe and the College of St. Mary’s in a dual meet and on Nov. 21 they square off versus Loras. The swimmers and coaches are looking forward to doing well in both meets and winning their home meets.

“We want to continue to grow and once we reach a goal, we re-evaluate things and find out what’s the next thing we’re going to do,” Strain said.