The Saline High School swimming and diving team has been floating comfortably atop the Michigan Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association top 10 poll all season.

This should come as no surprise, of course. The Hornets are the defending Division 1 state champs and haven’t missed a stroke (or dive) this fall as they head into the D1 MHSAA state finals, held Friday-Saturday at Oakland University in Rochester.

But Saline coach Todd Brunty has reminded his team that last year - the program’s first-ever state championship season - that they entered the finals ranked No. 3. Translation: A No. 1-ranking guarantees nothing at states.

“Last year we were third heading into the meet and we kind of caught people by surprise,” said Brunty. “I think they know we’re there and we’re going to be in the middle of it all (this year).

“People know that we’re going to be well represented. There are some different pressures and different expectations.”

Just like last year’s title team, Saline’s depth across the board puts the Hornets in the running to repeat.

At the helm are freshman Kate Rogers, sophomore Maddy Frost and senior Stephanie Boyle. Not to mention diver Taylor Ford, who took first at a D1 regional Tuesday. Ford was state runner-up as a sophomore in 2008, but did not compete with the team in 2009 in order to train with her club team. Her almost-guaranteed points are a nice bonus for a Saline team that didn’t get any points from diving last year.

Rogers enters the state finals with top 20 times in the 200-yard freestyle (10th, 1 minute, 56.45 seconds), 50 freestyle (17th, :24.86), 100 freestyle (18th, :54.05) and 500 freestyle (12th, 5:13.33).

Meanwhile, Frost has top-20 times in the 100 backstroke (17th, 1:00.92) and 100 freestyle (24th, :54.38), and Boyle is 20th in the 200 IM (2:14.16) and 7th in the breaststroke (1:08.48).

“We have at least two, if not four or five, swimmers per event,” said Brunty, whose team comes off its second straight Southeastern Conference Red Division title. “If one girl doesn’t swim well, we’re not toast. We have enough balance for some of that stuff to happen.”

Saline is shooting to make another state championship happen starting Friday.

“I think the girls are pretty focused on getting back to that position,” said Brunty. “We’ve talked about what we need to do - just get there Friday and cut loose and let the chips fall.”

What: Division 1 MHSAA Finals. Where: Oakland University, Rochester. When: Friday and Saturday. Local teams: Saline, Huron, Pioneer. Outlook: Defending champs Saline will undoubtedly be the frontrunner, but as coach Todd Brunty points out, “You definitely have teams like Huron and Pioneer, they’re always in the mix to win a bunch of races.” Especially reigning individual champs Anna DeMonte of Huron and Hanna Cowley of Pioneer. Looking to anchor No. 5-ranked Huron, DeMonte enters as the second seed in the 200 IM (2:06.38) and 100 butterfly (:57.96). Cowley, who has yet to lose a race at states, steers the No. 6 Pioneers, who until last year had won nine straight Division 1 titles. The Pioneer senior holds the top times in the 200 freestyle (1:52.56) and 100 freestyle (:51.53), and a second place time in the 50 freestyle (:24.08). Other squads that will likely be in the running for a team title include Holland West Ottawa, Bloomfield Hills Marian and South Lyon.

What: Division 2 MHSAA Finals. Where: Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti. When: Friday and Saturday. Local teams: Skyline, Dexter. Outlook: Skyline moves up to Division 2 after spending its first two years as a program in Division 3 and finishing third last year. The Eagles, who finished second - ahead of Huron and Pioneer - at the SEC Red championships, looks to add to their resume with a strong showing at states. Shannon Cowley, sister of Pioneer’s Hanna Cowley, will lead the pack with a 12th-ranked 200 IM time (2:13.18) and fifth-best 100 breaststroke time (1:07.42). Ranked No. 6 in the team poll, the Eagles know bringing home a trophy will be no easy task against the likes of Farmington Hills Mercy, Holland and Birmingham Groves. Meanwhile, unranked Dexter, coming off its 13th straight SEC White title, will be paced by senior Casey Edwards, who’s No. 5 in the 100 butterfly (:58.75). She was runner-up in the fly last season. “We have some kids who are swimming fast and we hope to carry that over in the finals,” said Dexter coach Cory Bergen, who’s hoping for a top 10 finish.

What: Division 3 MHSAA Finals. Where: Holland Aquatics Centre, Holland. When: Friday and Saturday. Local teams: Milan, Chelsea. Outlook: Milan, ranked No. 3, has its mind on bringing home hardware this season. Instrumental in the Big Reds’ success have been swimmers like Heather Kiger - ranked second in the 100 butterfly (:58.79), third in 50 freestyle (:24.58) and seventh in 200 IM (2:16.53) - and Anna Hargrove, who’s seventh in 200 freestyle (2:00.65) and sixth in 100 backstroke (1:02.82). “Our goal is to get in the top four and bring home a trophy,” said Milan coach Dan Heikka. “Our aim is to just swim fast as we can and see where that gets us.” Collectively swimming faster than 1- and 2-ranked East Grand Rapids and Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood will be the challenge for Milan. Unranked Chelsea, meanwhile, will be strong in diving with a two-time regional champ Lauren Dark, who was nearly 50 points ahead of the runner-up at a regional Tuesday. Adding to the Bulldogs’ outing will be swimmers such as Hannah Olsen, who’s 13th in the 50 freestyle (:25.52) and 15th in the 100 freestyle (:56.34).

Kaleb Roedel is a sports writer for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734)623-2562 and e-mailed at kalebroedel@annarbor.com.