The MHSAA state championship swim meets get underway tomorrow and Starkville will have 10 swimmers in the pool at the Tupelo Aquatic Center vying to bring home a state championship.

At least one Yellow Jacket has nabbed a state championship in two of the last three state meets, and head coach Melissa Hubley said she can’t wait to get into the action.

“Oh, I am extremely excited. It’s a long day of competition, but it’s extremely exciting,” said Hubley, who has been the coach of Starkville’s swim team for four years. “Everybody finds the energy to swim fast at state. I think the energy is right, the crowd is excited and I think it’s a big source of pride to be able to make it back for finals, to win a medal and to possibly be a state champion. So, everybody is ready for it. It’s a wonderful way to finish the season; it’s always fun.”

Leading the charge for the Yellow Jackets is sophomore Teddy Brain, who is looking to build off last year’s third-place finish in the 100-meter freestyle. This year, he will compete in the 200 meter and 100-meter freestyle, where his times of 1:49.96 and 50.81 earned him the third and fourth seed, respectively.

“He’s tall and he has the physique of a swimmer,” Hubley said of Brain. “He is a very dedicated swimmer, he’s at every practice and he is self-motivated. He has big goals that he is trying to accomplish for himself, and I think he knows how to stay focused on those without being too serious.”

Brain will also compete with teammates Timur Gabitov, Baraka Nyatta and Justin Chung in the 200-meter medley relay, which comes in with the state’s seventh-best time of 1:54.09, and in the 400-meter freestyle relay, which has the sixth-best time of 3:44.31. Gabitov, a freshman, will individually compete in the 100-meter butterfly and the 100-meter breaststroke.

Nyatta, also a freshman, will team up with team captain and senior Aubrey Dunning in the 200-meter freestyle relay alongside freshman Thomas Brodie Simmonds and eighth grader Gavin Burton. Fellow eighth grader Jude Dunn will be an alternate for that race. Freshman Britten Whittington will participate in the 100-meter butterfly and in the 500-meter freestyle.

Chung, an eighth grader, will swim in the 200-meter individual medley along with fellow eighth grader Effia Wu, who also will swim in the 100-meter breaststroke competition.

Hubley said her squad has a good chance to bring home another state championship and get her young team some experience for the future.

“Everybody that has won in the past has graduated. So, we’re hoping to get another state champion this year,” Hubley said. “We have a really young team, one senior, two 10th graders and the rest are ninth and eighth graders, which is really exciting for the future. They’ve all made state already at this age and they are only going to get faster.”