Tupelo’s swimming season all comes down to Friday’s state championship meet.

Both of Tupelo’s teams will be looking to claim a state title after the two squads came up just short last year. The good news for Tupelo is that it will be swimming at its home venue, the Tupelo Aquatic Center.

“The hay is in the barn, so to speak, as they say,” Tupelo head coach Josh Daniel said. “We’re just putting the finishing touches on a few things. We’re chomping at the bit. We’re really excited. Always excited to host because it’s our home pool and it’s what we’re most familiar with. This is what we’ve been driving for and building for all year long, so we’re definitely ready.”

The boys are fresh off claiming a North half title. Colin Wright led the way by winning both the 100 freestyle and the 100 backstroke.

“Colin is a big part of our team,” Daniel said. “We hope he wins both his individual events, and then he’ll definitely be swimming on two relays. And we rely on his relay splits. I’ve got two seniors, Mason Cordell and H.B. Pannell, that we’ll be counting on as well as also a couple of important juniors in Isaiah Barbour and Sohum Patel.”

The girls came in second at the North half championship and will look to improve on that finish on Friday.

“There’s definitely some places where we can perform a little better,” Daniel said. “We’ve moved a few things around and tried to capitalize on some areas where maybe we didn’t at North half. We’ve got a couple of really good, strong senior girls that I expect to do really well in Sarah Potts and Reagan Thomas. I’m really excited to see them swim. They’ve been training really hard, they’ve been really pushing themselves.”

In addition to Potts and Thomas, the girls also have Willa Martin, who won individual North half titles in the 100 butterfly and the 200 freestyle.

“Willa Martin gets a lot of attention, deservedly so. We’ll put her in the water and see how it all shakes out,” Daniel said.