Originally published October 11, 2014 at 5:26 PM | Page modified October 11, 2014 at 8:18 PM

Star Makenna Briggs and the Liberty girls swim team will see a big change this fall.

The Patriots still compete in the same KingCo Conference, and coach Kris Daughters looks at her schedule and sees familiar names Mercer Island, Bellevue, Lake Washington and others. But come postseason in late October, Liberty will be swimming in a smaller classification.

The team decided to compete in its assigned WIAA classification instead of opting up, as it has in past years.

In my 18 years here, its happened a lot where Liberty should have been a 2A school, Daughters said. There were just a lot of coaches this year that were interested to see what it would be like to stay in the classification the WIAA put us in.

That means Liberty will compete in District 3 with the Seamount and SPSL. Come the state meet, Nov. 14-15 at Federal Ways King County Aquatic Center, the Patriots will face the likes of Sehome, defending champ Pullman, Ellensburg and Lake Washington rather than perrenial powers Bainbridge, Mercer Island and Lakeside.

Daughters admits her swimmers were initially disappointed they werent staying in Class 3A. Liberty has a bona fide star in leader and senior Briggs, already a two-time state champion. And the Patriots program is growing.

The time standards are a lot different, Daughters said. And Ive gained some club swimmers who are ninth-graders this year.

The move, however, has given way to opportunity.

I think its great for our team, said Briggs, who last week committed to the University of San Diego. We will have more of a show-up. And a chance to place.

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For Liberty swim team, a change of pace