The Cranston West boys’ and girls’ swimming teams are in a similar boat this season, as neither team is very experienced.

The Falcons had decent numbers come out for their teams this season, but neither team is loaded with proven swimmers.

On top of the lack of experience, both teams will be forced to move up a division when the class meets roll around.

For whatever reason, the league has decided that the teams will compete in Division III – their normal division – but will compete in the Division II Class Meet at the conclusion of the season.

The decision is something that head coach Jaime-Leigh Gaulin-Ferretti doesn’t necessarily agree with.

“You transition each year,” Gaulin-Ferretti said. “Teams graduate kids from year-to-year, so you don’t know what kind of a team you’ll have.”

Gaulin-Ferretti admitted that it’s not a great year for her teams to compete in a higher division, but it was out of her control and her teams will still put forth their best effort.

“Hopefully we can maintain solid competition,” Gaulin-Ferretti said. “Obviously our goal is still to win.”

Both teams encountered success a season ago, as the girls finished 5-3-1, while the boys finished 4-3.

It’s evident that the teams will still be competitive in their dual meet seasons, even though the class meet may be an uphill climb when they get there.

The girls’ team already won their first dual meet of the season, convincingly beating Toll Gate, 54-39.

Although it’s still early to tell where swimmers will slot into which races for the season, the two top girls’ swimmers will be junior Gretchen Thompson and sophomore Hannah Lee.

The team also has four seniors – Alyssa Bailey, Andrea Barangan, Beatrice Bella and Alyssa Bergantino.

After that, there are a lot of question marks.

Other swimmers on the girls’ roster are Sofie Andrews, Lizbeth Brea-Polanco, Madlen Burunsuzyan, Mia Caruso, Stephanie Castagliuolo, Sophia Hanley, Lauryl Hargreaves, Cosette Lee, Hannah Lee, Zoe Mahoney, Emily Manzi, Stephanie Ramirez and Marissa Silvia.

The boys’ team will be led by junior Patrick Gendreau, as well as freshmen Sai Kamsani and Didier Ferland-Haroun, who are expected to be main contributors in their first seasons on the team.

The Falcons have five seniors – Ray Bauman, Ryan Gonzalez, Colin Sullivan, Giavani Valiente and Erick Wentzel.

Other swimmers on the roster are Lukman Akbar, Corey Biello, Ron Cooper, Michael Pontarelli, Connor Venagro and Keevan Winters.

In terms of alignment for the divisions, boys’ swimming in-particular has endured a lot of changes, with many teams shuffling around.

There are now just six teams remaining in D-III – West, Classical, Mount Hope, Mount St. Charles, Rogers and Shea/Tolman Co-op.

Waiting in D-II will be last year’s D-III champion, North Providence, who will be looking to capture another title at the D-II Class Meet this year. Cranston East, last year’s D-II champion, will compete in dual meets at the D-II level, but will compete in the D-I Class Meet.

For the girls, there aren’t as many changes. D-III will still compete as a 10-team division.

There are only two changes within D-III – Middletown and North Providence moved up to D-II, and Mount St. Charles and Toll Gate have moved down to D-III.

With seven of the same opponents in its dual meet season, West should have a shot to have a competitive season, but you never know how teams improve from year-to-year.

With several freshmen and sophomores on both rosters this season, the Falcons will be looking for their young swimmers to grow and learn as they go along, with high hopes of a successful dual meet season.

“We’re all about developing this year,” Gaulin-Ferretti said.