Hawks to lean on depth, diving

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Woodland girls swim captains, from left, seniors Sara Fowler, Emma Sardinskas, Katie Drewry and Kiley Soulier will lead the Hawks in the pool this season. –ELIO GUGLIOTTI
Woodland girls swim captains, from left, seniors Sara Fowler, Emma Sardinskas, Katie Drewry and Kiley Soulier will lead the Hawks in the pool this season. –ELIO GUGLIOTTI

BEACON FALLS — As the Woodland girls swimming and diving team looks to continue building on improvements made over the past couple of seasons, the Hawks will have one key factor on their side — depth.

Woodland coach Mike Magas said his team, which boasts a roster of 27 girls, has a lot of girls swimming at the “same level.”

“By that I mean we don’t have any top level, All-State stars, but we do have a lot of girls in all events that are very competitive with each other. So, one of our keys this year will be our depth,” said Magas, who is entering his 11th season as coach.

The Hawks finished last season with a 5-6-1 record. They earned a fifth place finish at the Naugatuck Valley League meet, before placing 19th out of 32 teams at the Class S meet.

Woodland lost senior leadership with the graduation of Brianna Christiano, Maria Carranza, Anna Boris, Katie Blair and Katie Porter. Magas will look to returning seniors and captains Emma Sardinskas, Katie Drewry, Sara Fowler and Kiley Soulier along with first-year swimmer and senior Clara Atallah to guide the team this year.

Magas said the seven juniors on the squad, who have been with the team since they were freshmen, will also provide leadership.

“We’re expecting a lot out of them this year,” Magas said. “All of them will be stepping into leadership roles.”

Magas pointed to juniors Chloe Ariola and Sarah Bryden, who he expects to fill key roles in the pool this season.

Aside from depth, the Hawks’ other strong suit is diving.

Fowler and junior Lauren Lombardo, who both earned All-NVL diving status last year, will lead the way. Magas said junior Lisa Thrasher and sophomore Lexie Byczko have also been impressive on the diving board.

Magas said all four divers will be competing at NVLs and he expects Lombardo and Fowler to be in contention for gold.

“I’ll think we’ll have one of the strongest diving teams in the league,” Magas said.

The Hawks also have a strong core of young swimmers with five returning sophomores and 10 incoming freshmen.

Magas anticipates sophomore Tatianna Lynn will make a splash.

“She’s going to be one of our top swimmers this year,” Magas said.

Magas said the freshmen class, including Kyla Drewry, Brooke Pope and Marissa Johnson, also provides something to be excited about for the years ahead.

As the Hawks prepare to dive into a new season, Magas said the goal this year is to continue to get better.

Woodland participated in the NVL Indicational Friday at Kennedy High School in Waterbury. The Hawks open the season with two home meets Sept. 10 versus Wilby and Sept. 12 against East Haven.