Sometimes in sports, such as the case that mirrors actual life, one must make the most of what is provided to them and utilize their best talents and resources. And that is essentially what a young, local co-op swimming team is doing as it looks to make moves upstream with a newcomer as its skipper.

The Valley Regional-Old Lyme-Old Saybrook (VR-OL-OS) girls’ swimming and diving co-op squad holds only a seven-person team while navigating the high school waters of CIAC competition this fall. Just a year ago, the program procured a 17th-place showing with 100 points for the Class S State Championship.

Now, while the numbers may be low, the mettle and fortitude is strong for this squad. First-year Head Coach Katie Roberts detailed that the name of the game is upward mobility within the team, with an added emphasis of cohesion, chemistry, and teamwork on this close-knit club.

“We are a small team this year looking to continue to build,” said Roberts. “We are very focused on personal improvement and improving the connection as a team.”

The roster’s lone trio of seniors each serve as squad captains this fall with Maddie Morrissey, Sydney Doboe, and Shikha Patel. Doboe and Patel have brought about great progress in breaststroke heats, with the Doboe looking to branch out further, plus Morrissey is showing a diverse skill set by being a utility athlete who can make her mark in any event for VR-OL-OS.

“Maddie is an all around great swimmer who doesn’t have just one stroke, but she is always willing to swim any event she is put in,” Roberts said. “Shikha is an excellent breaststroker looking to grab a state cut time, and Sydney is also a very strong breaststroker, but looking to be competitive in butterfly this year.”

Sasha Dziebel, Rose Dimmock, and Bella Sanford form a terrific triumvirate of sophomores who are setting themselves up to have great strokes while riding waves of momentum into their upperclassmen campaigns.

“Sasha Dziebel, Rose Dimmock, and Bella Sanford are some strong underclassmen looking to improve as they approach their junior years,” said Roberts. “We are hoping to see Rose put up a state cut time in the 100 backstroke.”

VR-OL-OS is not just limited to the ground floor in the pool, as the team does deploy a lone but solid diver through the air in sophomore Bethany Erkkila, who wasted little time in cementing her status on the squad by punching a postseason ticket.

“Bethany Erkkila is our only diver on the team,” said Roberts. “She qualified for states in her first meet of the season [at Ledyard-St. Bernard on Sept. 12] and is looking great for states this November.”

The club still is highly anticipating honoring its three captains with the team’s Senior Day at Haddam-Killingworth on Wednesday, Nov. 1 for a 4 p.m. meet to close out the regular season. Roberts concluded that as the group continues toward its final preparations for the postseason and State Championship meet, they simultaneously locked in on first building up swagger and self-belief in themselves and each individual’s abilities as an athlete.

“We are very excited to celebrate our seniors on Nov. 1,” said Roberts. “We are working on building confidence as individuals and as a team, making the most out of a seven-person team against some big competition.”

The seven-swimmer squad for VR-OL-OS is comprised of seniors in Morrissey, who is from Valley Regional; Patel, hailing from Old Saybrook; and Old Lyme’s Doboe; sophomores of Rose Dimmock of Old Lyme, Alexandra Dziebel from Old Saybrook, and Valley Regional’s Erkkila; plus Old Lyme freshman Alexandria Sanford.

For postseason competition for VR-OL-OS, the Class S State Diving Championship will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 8 at 5:30 p.m. at Sheehan High School. The swimming trials for the Class S meet are taking place on Saturday, Nov. 11 at Cheshire Community Pool at 6:15 p.m. The swimming finals are on Wednesday, Nov. 15 at Southern Connecticut State University at 6 p.m.

For the State Open Diving Championship, it will be contested on Thursday, Nov. 16 with a 5:30 p.m. start time at Middletown High School. The swimming State Open Championships are slated for 1 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 19 at Yale University.