The high school swimming and diving season began Sept. 3 at schools across the state.

West Valley Preps and the Litchfield/Goodyear Independent and Surprise Independent asked local high school coaches about their teams. Here are their responses.

Desert Edge Scorpions

Boys and girls coach: Joe Gosha (third year at Desert Edge)
Section: Division II
Who are your top returning swimmers? Returning swimmers who are the foundation of our program include M.J. Burley, Ivana Harrell, Brody Randall, Jett Franks and Alaina Espino. McKenzie Zwicker is another four year swimmer for us whose commitment to our program is a great encouragement for all of us.
Who are some of the newcomers that may have an impact this year? Newcomers who are going to make a difference for us include Joshua Talley and Benazir Russell.  We also have a new assistant coach this year for us, though she has coached swimming for decades as well.  Her name is Kwan Tate.  She is originally from Thailand where she swam on the Thai national team and has coached club swimming here in the US for many years.
What is your team’s best attribute entering this season? Our program is small and not as strong as the Millennium program, for example (due to the significant number of year-round swimmers on that team), but we have a great group of kids who are doing their best and having fun in the process.

Millennium Tigers

Boys and girls coach: Jessica Cox (first year as Millennium head coach)
Section: Division I (Boys won 2023 Division II state title, girls finished fifth)
Who are your top returning swimmers? Cole Faut, junior, sprinter: 100 free, 50 free, and 100 fly. He can do it all. Cole is considered one of the top 10 swimmers in the state. Marcos Bravo, senior: sprinter- butterfly and breaststroke. He can do it all as well. Ewan Cain- sophomore: backstroke and IM.  He has a lot of potential this year as well as for the next two years. Camden Hart, senior and Joel Arnold: senior: Both will add a lot to the team in the breaststroke and in the relays. On the girls side: Libby Smith, senior: breaststroke, IM, and distance free  She is a great competitor and will be a key competitor for our girls team. 
Who are some of the newcomers that may have an impact this year? Mia Berkland, senior,  in dive. She has a lot of athletic talent and dive is a new sport for her but her gymnastic training is allowing her to advance quickly. She will be exciting to watch this season. Norah Suaverdez, freshman brings a lot swimming experience and will make an impact in the free and breaststroke events as well as the IM. Sadie Smith, freshman brings some sprinting free talent as well.
What is your team’s best attribute entering this season? The team's best attribute is that we have a lot of seniors who know the sport well.  They offer leadership skills as well as they have the experiences of competing at a high level. Some of our boys have been on two back to back D2 state championship teams.

Valley Vista Monsoon

Boys Coach: Janet Anderson Girls Coach: Christie Kearley (seventh season at Valley Vista)
Conference: Division I
Who are your top returning swimmers? Our top returning boys swimmer is Nicholas Hercel. He’s in his fourth year on the team and has a great chance of making state for the first time in an individual event. Our top returning girl is Avery Slade. She was on the team her freshman/sophomore years, took off her junior year to attend West-MEC and has now returned as a senior. She has great leadership skills and has a chance at making state in an individual event.
Who are some of the newcomers that may have an impact this year? Newcomers to our team that will have an impact this year are Samuel Mills and Cleo Davis. Sam is our first male diver in my years coaching. This is his first year on a swim/dive team and he is quickly picking up dives, learning techniques for all the swim strokes, and always puts forth his best efforts. He has the potential to be a great diver and swimmer in the years to come. Cleo is primarily a diver, but was also a year round club swimmer in the past. She brings great technique, attitude, and willingness to compete in any event that will help the team.
What is your team’s best attribute entering this season? Our team’s best attribute is their positive attitude/support of each other.
What are the primary team and individual goals for this year’s team? Our primary team goals are to make it to state in two out of the three relays for the girls and boys teams. We have not made state in a relay in a few years and feel we have the right combination of athletes to accomplish this goal this year. We have two or three boys and one or two girls who have a goal of qualifying for state in an individual event as well.

Willow Canyon Wildcats

Boys and girls coach: Victoria Wise (third year at Willow Canyon)
Section: Division II
Who are your top returning swimmers? My top returning swimmer is Gregory Virga
Who are some of the newcomers that may have an impact this year? My newcomers are seniors that have been wrestling up until now their senior year. The names are Noah Ruzicka and Vivian Undercoffer
What is your team’s best attribute entering this season? Our team's best attribute is the team support they all have and share.
What are the primary goals for this year’s team? Our goals this season are to grow the program and influence surprise to grow the sport as a whole to make it more commonly known.