The William Smith College swimming and diving team opens the 2013-14 season at Utica College tonight. The Herons will compete against the host Pioneers and Cazenovia College starting at 7 p.m.
 
The Herons are led by Kelly Kisner, who enters her 25th season at William Smith with a 157-83-1 career record in dual meets. Her squad posted a 7-2 mark last season and placed fourth in the Liberty League Championship Meet.
 
Nine seniors from that team graduated and the Herons will be without eight of them this year, Katie Stebbins joined the coaching staff. While replacing that much talent and experience will be a challenge, seven of William Smith's eight returning swimmers are involved with the athletics department's leadership groups (SAAC, Rising Stars, The Core).
 
Senior swimmers Mimi Mahoney and Sally Storch and senior diver Kirsten Spalding will lead the team off the blocks. They'll be joined by senior two-sport athlete Marielle Verni at the end of cross country season. Leadership is not solely the responsibility of seniors and the Herons also have a quartet of experienced juniors: Danielle Bagwin, Samantha Burnett, Leah Jacob, and Canandaigua native Christine Rhoads.
 
Four members of the sophomore class, Brooke Adams, Cece Carsky-Bush, Emily Linde, and Kate Mendez, add to the Herons' depth, while the Class of 2017 brings eight promising talents to Bristol Pool.
 
The team's stroke strengths are different from last season. This year, William Smith will be strong in the butterfly and individual medley and is showing promise in the middle distance freestyle events as well.
 
"Our goal every year is to always give our best effort," Kisner said. "We train as hard as we can during practice in order to perform the best we can during meets."