With the Orange Empire Conference being one of the toughest, if not the toughest, conference in Southern California, the Hornets are setting the standards high for their upcoming season.

The men's swim team has started off on the rough side losing three of their fastest swimmers due to various eligibility conflicts.

"We have a little bit of a ways to go," said head coach Pete Snyder. "We have to keep working and get in better shape."

With a solid number of returning sophomores, this year's team will be led by captain Dax Terreck from Garden Grove, Samuel White from Warren, Dyllan Williams from Brea and possibly Frank Liu from Troy.

Also, freshman Alex Berea from Troy was noted as a great pick up and hopefully a great competitor.

"We look forward to setting personal bests as well as putting a strong effort into conference and hopefully being known as one of the top teams," Terrack said. "We are a very close team this year and our camaraderie will get us far this season."

The women's swim team is much younger this year with only seven sophomores to their 17 freshman.,

"I believe we are stronger than we were last year," said Snyder. "I think we have a chance to go higher this year."

Returning co-captains, Irlanda Martinez and Emily Kitchens from Camarillo, are both extremely versatile swimmers. Additionally, freshman's Becky Goss from El Dorado, Omori Okran from La Serna and all the way from Hawaii, Charlee Rowe and Emilee Kojiro, will greatly impact the team.

Having already competed against Riverside, Golden West, and Orange Coast at the Flip Darr Relays in Riverside on Friday, Jan. 27, the Hornets have a solid idea what they're up against.

Orange Coast was, and frequently is, the No.1 team in state and usually has a greater depth to their team than Fullerton.

The Hornets host their only meet against Saddleback and Orange Coast this Friday, Feb. 10. The meet starts at 2 p.m.