EVANSTON — The Evanston High School boys’ swim team splash into the 2019-20 season this weekend, hitting the road for the Rock Springs Invitational Friday, then travelling to Rawlins Saturday for a pentathlon.

It’s a young team that will take to the pool for EHS head coach Jim Levine, with just one senior on the roster in Colter Camphouse.

“We’re going to be all right, we’ve got some good, young swimmers,” Levine said. “We’re led by a good senior, so we’re excited to get the season started.”

The Red Devils finished ninth at the 4A state meet last season, led by a third-place finish in the 100 backstroke by freshman Jaxon Nicholls, the 4A West Conference champ in the event. Now a sophomore, Nicholls, who also placed in the top 10 in the 200 IM, will look to improve on an already fast start to his high school career.

“We had some kids in the top 12, and we swam pretty well,” Levine said. “We’re not going to be a contender for the podium team-wise, we just don’t have the depth. But individually, we should do all right, if we can keep kids healthy.”

Camphouse is coming off a solid junior season that saw him place 10th in the 200 freestyle and eighth in the 500 freestyle.

“Colter has been with us for a long time, and knows the routine,” Levine said. “He does a good job for us.”

Levine will also look to juniors Ben Cook, Jayden Cornell, Vince Bloomfield and Connor Fackrell to provide leadership.

“We’re expecting big things out of our juniors this year,” Levine said. “We have some good sophomores also, and a couple of freshmen that are coming on. It will be good.”

For a team with limited numbers, the Red Devils are well-represented across a variety of events, which will bode well when it comes to qualifying athletes for the state meet.

“We have something covered in just about every event,” Levine said. “Jaxon [Nicholls] swims backstroke for us, so we’ll be good there. Ben [Cook] and Jaxon swim IM, Jayden [Cornell] swims the fly, Vince [Bloomfield] and Gage Beachler swim the sprints for us. Connor [Fackrell] and Colton [Camphouse] swim the distance events. We don’t have any divers this season — we have some kids that probably would like to, but we don’t have a diving coach.”

The Red Devils open the 2019-20 season today (Friday) at the Rock Springs Invitational; the team will then travel to Rawlins Saturday for a pentathlon. Levine said the two events will serve as a barometer to see where the team is, and what areas they need to work on.

“I think we’ll do pretty well over in Rock Springs,” Levine said. “I don’t know for sure who is going to be at the pentathlon in Rawlins. It all depends on which big schools come. But we’ll hold our own. We’re missing a few kids though — some are sick, some didn’t have enough practices in to compete. We’re not at full strength, by any means.”

Now entering his fifth year at the helm of the Red Devils, Levine will once again be assisted by Kate Schmidt, who just wrapped up her season as the head coach of the Lady Red Devils.

“Kate is my assistant, and I’m her assistant during the girls’ season, so it works out well,” Levine said. “She’s very knowledgeable, likes working with young people. She’s pretty no-nonsense at times, when she needs to be.”