It’s not easy being the new kids at the pool, but the Old Rochester Regional swim team made history this year with four athletes qualifying for sectional and state tournaments.

“They’re making history. That’s really cool to be a part of,” said Coach Carly DeBeau.

Avery Nugent, Chloe Riley, Julianne Mariner and Cate Feldkamp improved their times to qualify for both sectionals and state championships in the 200-yard freestyle relay.

“They were within a second and a half away from it all season,” said DeBeau. “They ended up busting right through the time. They just crushed it.”

At the South Coast Conference championship on Jan. 29, Feldcamp also qualified for the individual 200-yard freestyle event for sectionals and state by dropping five seconds off her time in only a week.

Those achievements mean a lot for the team, which is significantly smaller than the others it competes against. The 13 girls and six boys often go up against teams with at least 20 swimmers on each roster, said DeBeau.

ORR is at a disadvantage as other schools fill up multiple slots, thereby increasing their points for each event.

For the boys especially, DeBeau said, “We know physically we can’t win. It’s a numbers game at that point.”

The guys may feel like they’re often swimming upstream, but they didn’t let the size of the team stop them from competing.

“They swam hard and tried to get the best times,” DeBeau said. “They had some awesome races.”

Since teams get points for participating in each event, it’s also important to have swimmers signed up for every race. Last year Teagan Walsh began learning to dive. After working on her form during the off season, she took to the board to compete this winter.

“Diving definitely helps,” DeBeau said. “It was great for her to have that experience and to be able to compete in our conference.”

The team, which practices in Middleboro, also had a few new swimmers.

“We’re encouraging any and all people who are interested in swimming to come out,” said the coach. “Myself and my assistant coach will teach anyone. The more bodies the better.”

Going forward, DeBeau would like to see more students join the team, and said her swimmers have already come a long way in the team’s brief existence.

“This has been by far the best season out of the three,” she said. “I couldn’t even believe how hard they worked.”