With a current national ranking of No. 17, the Northwestern women’s swimming team’s prospects are looking good.

“We’re going to have a really good season,” diving captain Whitney Winters predicted.

The Wildcats have a young team this year after losing only two seniors and adding 10 freshmen — creating a large novice class for the second year in a row.

Although the team is young, senior captain Lauren Moore said it is still performing well because it has depth that it lacked in the past.

“The freshmen are definitely stepping up and doing what they need to do in the dual meets,” Moore said of the team’s performance in its fall competition.

Added Winters: “Although we are a young team, I think we are going to do better than we did last year.”

So far this season, the Cats have a 1-1-1 record in dual meets after a loss to Wisconsin, a tie with Indiana and a win against Minnesota. They won the five-team NU Relays and came in second in the NU Invitational, with both meets held at Norris Aquatics Center.

“It’s a hard-working group and one that’s coming together very well,” NU coach Tierney said. “Even in the invitational, they responded very well against a very well-rested Purdue team.”

As far as the coaching staff is concerned, Winters, a senior, said she is happy with the team’s new assistant coach, Heather Johnston.

“She brings in a lot of insight and experience,” Winters said. “And Jimmy is just a great coach with tons of experience in the Big Ten.”

Winters added that the divers are starting to see improvement under their coach, Tom Michael.

The Cats travel to Athens, Ga., this weekend to compete against eight teams in the three-day Georgia Invitational.

“It’s going to be a tough meet, but we’re excited about it,” Moore said.

Five of the nine teams competing in the meet are nationally ranked, including Georgia, last year’s national champion; No. 20 Minnesota and No. 21 Michigan, which are NU’s top conference rivals; No. 2 Georgia, No. 19 Alabama, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Florida State and Florida Atlantic.

“We are going to be more focused on how each individual performs and how each relay performs,” Tierney said. “I’d like to see our relays step it up a notch.”

The Cats have been unable to attend Georgia Invitational in the past because of finals, but the extra week of classes after Thanksgiving break enabled them to make the trip this year.

“This weekend will be a good indicator of what we’ve accomplished so far over the year,” Tierney said. “It will be another big challenge for the team.”

Tierney said the team’s main focus is on the bigger meets during the season, such as this weekend’s Georgia Invitational and the Big Ten Championships, but pointed out that the smaller meets are important as well.

“Certainly in January we have a couple of dual meets we are going to get fired up for,” Tierney said.

The coach added he is still testing swimmers in different races in preparation for Big Tens.

“Already, we’ve seen a lot of improvements this year,” Tierney said. “It’s one of those things where we’re still sorting out what potential we have.”

The Cats will continue their training in Coral Gables, Fla., during Winter Break. Their upcoming schedule consists of meets against Auburn, Tennessee, Penn State, Notre Dame and Michigan, followed by Big Tens and, for some swimmers, the NCAA championships.

But before the Cats get to the March championships, they will have to survive a Big Ten slate packed with talented squads.

“We are hoping to take down most, if not all, of those teams,” Moore said.