Texas begins its season Friday at 3 p.m. at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center in the annual Orange-White intrasquad meet.

The team will divide into two squads and compete against one another.

“I am excited to see them race,” head coach Carol Capitani, who replaced Kim Brackin in April, said. “It’s been awhile of just pure training, so it will be fun to see where they are as a team and individually.”

While the Longhorns look to improve on their ninth-place finish at last year’s NCAA championships, Capitani knows that under her leadership, they will take time before they are back to where they were during the late ‘80s ­— NCAA champions.

“Hopefully we can improve on where we were last year,” Capitani said. “I’m not just being humble. This year is about building the bricks for success.”

The team will be returning eight of the 10 individuals who had top-16 performances in the championship meet: Bethany Adams, Kelsey Amundsen, Kelsey LeNeave, Ellen Lobb, Lily Moldenhauer, Laura Sogar, Samantha Tucker and Diana Wilcox.

Their first official meet will come next weekend at the SMU Classic in Dallas, and Sogar is looking forward to getting the season started.

“There is incredible talent on this team and the motivation factor and the hard work that’s being put in is second to none,” Sogar said. “We are really excited for this year. We want to prove ourselves to everyone.”