Swimming has become an August to February job for Oak Harbor’s Erika Miller.

The girls season finished just last week and already the third-year head coach has jumped back into the pool, this time with the boys team.

Miller said the Wildcats have 18 swimmers with a lot of talent, and plans are being made for a return trip to the state championship meet.

“They are pretty pumped up about being able to swim state-qualifying times in the first couple of meets, so we’ll see whether they can do that or not,” Miller said.

Last year, Oak Harbor finished in 25th place at state, led by Evan Wilson who was fourth in the 500-meter freestyle and 11th in the individual medley, and the 200-meter medley and 400-meter freestyle relay teams of John Hu, Wilson, Cameron Spence and Brian Hall that came in 15th in both events.

Hall graduated and Wilson is not swimming this year, so Miller has some holes to fill.

“I’m planning on using senior Zack Johnson, who didn’t swim last year, Cameron, John and Spencer Livermore on the relay teams,” Miller said.

Hu is a sophomore, Spence is a senior and Livermore is a returning junior.

Other returning juniors include Daniel Saiku, Bryce Vagt and Chris Rankin.

Sophomore Christopher Cole is also expected to be one of the members of the varsity team.

Another exciting new acquisition is foreign exchange student Klisman Aquino from Brazil.

“He will be swimming in the sprint races for us this season,” Miller said.

Oak Harbor opens the season at 3 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 30, hosting Lynden at John Vanderzicht Memorial Pool.