FREDONIA, N.Y. --- Head coach Arthur Wang has waited eight years for this. His women's swimming and diving team is where he wants it to be.

“We've been getting very selective with our recruiting,” said Wang, who'll send his team out for its first meet noon Saturday at Ithaca College. “We should be very competitive against every team we swim against this year.”

The strength of the team has been in its diving program, again under the direction of John Crawford. The former men's head coach from the 1970s through the 1980s, Crawford has consistently sent out winners – and last year was no exception.

Sarah Ficarro, now a junior, has won three SUNYAC boards – last year it was the 3-meter after sweeping as a freshman – and has competed in the NCAA championships in both her previous seasons. The result: four All-American certificates. She was also First Team All SUNYAC in 2010 and again in 2011.

Also in the stable of Blue Devil divers are senior Leanne Kies; sophomores Ashley Keller, Katelyn Haley, Lauren Schaefer, and Breena Cogliandro; and freshman Heather Colby.

Keller was Second Team All SUNYAC and posted an NCAA provisional qualifying score as a freshman, yet was not selected for the championship meet. She was third off both boards at last year's SUNYAC meet, while Haley was fourth off both, and Schaefer fifth.

Bolstered by the divers, the Blue Devils finished fourth at last year's SUNYAC meet. Wang believes his swimmers are ready to follow suit.

“Hopefully our swimmers are matching that this year,” he said. “We have a very good team.”

He'll be counting heavily on his junior class. It consists of co-captains Elizabeth Schake (sprints) and Emily Ginty (middle distance/backstroke), Stephanie Andrasek (IM/breast stroke), Courtney Schmidt (butterfly/breast stroke), Lizzie Lodinsky (distance), and Jessica Dosser (sprints).

Also back is one senior swimmer, Renée Solly (sprints).

Returning sophomore swimmers are Kristen Champoux, Courtney Gfroerer, and Jennifer Smith. All three specialize in distance events.

The rest of the swimming group is comprised of nine freshmen.

They are Ellie Brion (freestyle), Katie Donnelly (sprints), Camille Follman (freestyle/backstroke), Breonna Henningham (IM/backstroke), Amanda Kadish (distance), Missy Mazurek (breast stroke), Rachel Morgano (breast stroke), Jamie Reidy (IM/butterfly), and Steph Rosa (backstroke).

“We've got,” Wang said, “a good group of leaders among our junior class. They will leave a big hole (when they leave the program). But the freshmen class is making up for any departure we have in the future. There's a lot of hidden talent there. They're under the radar, and weren't heavily recruited. They're going to be high-impact athletes for us.”

The Blue Devils will help open Ithaca's state-of-the-art facility when they face the host Bombers as well as the New Paltz Hawks in Saturday's season-opener.