Eighteen months after the 2013 flood damaged the community pool, the Galena swim team has returned to the water.

The team’s first meet will be the Wishbone Invite in Fairbanks hosted by the North Pole Midnight Sun Stingrays on Nov. 14-16.

For those who want to watch the Galena swimmers at home, the team is planning a mock meet later in the year. A mock meet is mainly against each other or adults that want to participate.

Restoring the pool following the 2013 flood took more than one year to accomplish.

“For the swim team, this is our first time swimming after the flood, and I’m hoping to get kids interested again,” said coach Jason Harris. “We ended up losing lots of equipment that has not yet been replaced.”

Some of that lost equipment included lane lines, pool bowies, kick boards, fins, hand paddles, and pace clocks.

Mr. Harris said he hopes to train the Galena swimmers for they’ll be competitive for the meets, and he would like to get a few students qualified for Junior Olympics.