Talawanda High School’s 2012-13 swimming and diving season began with the first practice at Miami University’s Aquatic Center the evening of Nov. 5, and head coach Steve Pasquale said he’s already looking forward to another successful season.

Last year, as a member of the Fort Ancient Valley Conference, both the boys and girls teams won Western Division championships. It was the sixth straight title for both programs.

The boys team went on to send eight swimmers to the Division I state meet, where they tied for 16th place, a significant feat considering that there are 135 Division 1 men’s swim teams in Ohio, only 46 of them scored points at the state meet, and all teams scoring more points than Talawanda had larger male student populations, five of them two to three times as big. Talawanda’s male student population is only 17 students above the cutoff for division 2 status.

This year, THS will be a member of the Southwest Ohio Conference (SWOC), which also will include teams from Edgewood, Harrison, Little Miami, Mount Healthy, Northwestern, Ross and Wilmington.

With five of the eight swimmers who went to last year’s state meet returning this year and the dramatic improvement seen in several other swimmers, the forecast for this year’s men’s team is promising.

The overall performance by last year’s girls team, bolstered by the addition of several talented freshmen, suggests that this will be another successful campaign.

Pasquale and his assistant, Miami University senior Dan Toberman, welcomed about 50 athletes to the first practice. Swimmers ranged in experience from those who began swimming around age 5 to a few who had no swimming instruction.

Pasquale said that although the coaches do not select participants on the basis of experience, they do require that all participants be highly motivated to improve, come to all practices and work as hard as possible.

Miami University senior Corey Bangs will coach both the boys and girls diving teams.