In his second year as head coach of the Tamaqua swim teams, Al Bostdorff faces several forms of adversity.

Limited pool time in the offseason, low numbers out for the squad, and several other glitches posed problems for the veteran coach.The Tamaqua Area High School Natatorium's roof required repair, so when the renovations began in May of last year, Bostdorff and his team realized their offseason training time would be limited in their home pool. That down time was extended when repair issues occurred and the pool was unable to be filled in a timely manner."A lot of area swimmers were training with me at the Hazleton YMCA, because we weren't the only school whose pool was dealing with repair," Bostdorff said. "The contractors needed to be sure of a number of things, so our kids weren't able to swim, really, until two weeks ago."Along with the limited pool time, Bostdorff hasjust seven boys and 12 girls out for the Raiders' swimming squad, adding to the adversity.Looking at the boys' team, there will be five swimmers and two divers, limiting their team's ability to put up good enough numbers for team competition.Spearheading the individuals for the guys is senior captain Ben Turrano, who finished third in districts a season ago in the 100 fly, and 8th in the 500 freestyle event."He's probably our strongest boy swimmer. He's our team captain and he's hoping to improve on last year's results," Bostdorff said.Andrew Castagna and Bryan Ramirez, both seniors, will be solid swimmers looking to score points in the dual meets for the Blue Raiders. Sophomore Jeff Letterhouse is primarily a backstroke swimmer, and is decent in free, while freshman Jacob Rudy has been fine-tuning his breaststroke abilities.Two male divers for the Raiders will collect valuable team points as Thorn Devlin returns after a fourth place at districts last year. The talented athlete is one of the premier motocross racers in the country, and utilizes that 'no fear' attitude in his diving approach, as well. Meanwhile, freshman Billy Shilko enters the program with much promise."Thorn was forced to sit out the league championship in last year's diving competition, which he was favored to win, due to an injury," Bostdorff said. "So, we're hoping for more continued success from him. Shilko has shown a lot of potential on the diving board as well."As far as the Tamaqua girls team is concerned, there's no better place to start than junior Rebecca Kanaskie, a league champion and state qualifier a season ago. The team captain has been working hard on honing her skills in the water, and hopes to maintain the high level of competition."With all of her success a year ago, she's back and will be a large key to our relay success," said Bostdorff. "She has a great attitude and a strong personality to help lead the younger girls on the team."A solid nucleus of talented swimmers join Kanaskie, as Abby Brickler (Jr.), Julia Shellhammer (Sr.), Jazmin Mena (Sr.), Emma Rago (Jr.), and Maizy Troxell will do their part in carrying out team goals."Brickler was a high point scorer for us last year and we hope she will do so again this season," Bostdorff said. "Shellhammer is a great athlete, Mena will score some points for us and is very solid throughout her events, Rago finished in fourth place in districts last year and will lead the girls' diving team while Troxell is still a step away from being stellar, with her improvement moving in the right direction."Sophomore Emily Andrews returns to help out with her strong anchor ability in numerous relays, while freshman Sarah Maue shows strength and versatility in all strokes."She will specialize in the breast stroke and the individual medley races, and she will score points for us," the coach said about Maue. "She works so hard and shows such dedication and strong effort."A trio of freshmen in Samantha Wagner, Zowie Schickram and Olivia Lattanzi "have the ability to get better and better and should be something special in the later stages of this season," the coach said.Finally, Lexi Kerstetter, a sophomore, returns from an injury a season ago, and according to Bostdorff, "should do some great things, specializing in back and free and being a key to our relay success."As for his team's goals, Bostdorff knows to be realistic, yet full of optimism, saying, "We know that we are short in strength and numbers, but our directive is to hone them individually, and aim for improvement in all areas and levels."