Ponca City High School swimming Coach Heather Harris doesn’t try to hide the excitement she has about her team and the upcoming season.

The Wildcat swimmers get into action Tuesday at a Tulsa Union invitational and Thursday with a home meet against Oologah at the Ponca City RecPlex.

She says that this year’s team may be the best she’s had in the six years she has been head coach.

Her excitement is tempered only a little bit by the fact the Wildcats lost two very good swimmers to graduation and will be hard to replace.

Rylee Strah and Max Engster are the two hard-toreplace seniors on the girls’ and boys’ teams respectively.

Looking at the individual components of this year’s teams, Harris is very optimistic.

“We have some really talented swimmers who have taken their careers to the next level,” she said. “They trained hard this summer and figured out what they needed to do to improve.”

Over the summer, a member of the girls team, Madison Shearer, was the first Ponca City state champion in a long time. She won the 15 and over 100 breaststroke state championship as a member of the Ponca Sailfish.

A group of sophomores are on hand to “immensely help our program,” Harris said.

They include Jessalyn Carpenter, who Harris expects to be a huge factor for the girls team. Other sophomores are Alyssa Sullivan, Alyssa Cannon, Priscilla Ard and Aihanna Payne. “They will score some points for us,” Harris said.

On the boys side, Harris points to junior Kyle King as one she expects to have an “incredible year.” “He has worked hard over the summer and has improved his skills. Another junior, Tim Crank, is also one the coach expects to have a great season.

“I expect Bradyn Stewart to have a huge year as well,” she said. “Tanner Estes is our best senior and will contribute a lot. I expect the boys team to really kill it and reach their goals. I am ready to watch them be successful.”

There is depth on the boys side as well as a group of freshmen are in the picture. They include Trey Jones, Ted Fusselman, Jack Lopez, John Paul Coleman and Archer Estes.

“The boys team is a really big team. Some others who are returning and will contribute are Kendall Dugosh, who trained all summer, and Riley Ladner, who is out for football but will be available when football season is over, and Saxxon Lorett” she said.

The schedule is a challenging one, and includes Bartlesville, Stillwater and state champion Bishop Kelley. In the Oklahoma Big 7 Conference, the Wildcats are in good shape. Harris said she believes her team can defeat last year’s conference champion, Enid.

PONCA CITY SWIM SCHEDULE Nov. 1-- Tulsa Union Invitational Nov. 3-- Oologah at Ponca City Nov. 15 -- at Bartlesville Dec. 6 -- Stillwater at Ponca City Dec. 9-- Yukon Invitational Dec. 13-- Putnam City, Bethany at Ponca City Dec. 15-- Bishop Kelley at Ponca City Jan. 3-- at Oologah Jan. 6-- Enid, Putnam City, Bethany, away Jan. 12-- Choctaw at Ponca City (Senior Night) Jan. 19 -- Harrah, Choctaw, Mount St. Mary, away TBD -- Conference meet Feb. 3-- Regionals Feb. 16-17 -- State