The Spartans have a target on their back this season.

When you’re a regular contender, it comes with the turf.

“We’ve always been the underdog, and now we’re in this different division … I haven’t ever been at this position of other teams expecting something from us,” said Bainbridge High School boys water polo varsity team Head Coach Kristin Gellert. “We expect so much from ourselves, and I know that they can do it, it’s just a matter of making it happen at the right time.”

The format of the state leagues switched, so this year there are three divisions. The Spartans are in Division 1, Gellert said, so this year fans will notice they are playing different teams for a much more competitive season.

Also, (record permitting) the island squad will be heading to State without having to go through a regional-level competition.

That being said, the island squad is set to face off against some familiar faces anyway, including regular rivals Mercer Island, perpetual powerhouse Roosevelt, and the undefeated (reportedly for more than 100 straight matches) Curtis.

Not that they’re worried.

“This team, this year, is blowing me away,” Gellert said. “I have so much faith in them. I keep raising the bar and they keep reaching it and asking for more. It’s beyond what I could ever have dreamed of, to have this many guys wanting it for themselves, for each other, for the program. They all want to work hard and hope that success comes from that.”

The Spartan bench is deeper than than the deep end of the pool this year, with 27 players on the roster. And, to hear the coach tell it, there isn’t a slouch in the bunch.

“I’ve seen them do incredible things and I hope that I can live up to their expectations because they’re living up to mine,” she said. “I have at least five guys who are varsity caliber who won’t make the roster. I have so much talent and so much hard work going on that it’s crazy. There are guys who are going to be on our JV team who would be the stars at other teams.”

The team is led in the pool by co-captains Sam Chapman (a senior), Max Eyrich (junior) and Thomas Defawe (junior).

Of the student leaders, Gellert said she looks to them primarily to be examples.

“I give them some responsibilities, like leading drills, but mostly I want them to show what it should look like to be giving your all out there,” she said.

Despite the deep bench, Chapman is one of only two seniors on the squad, along with Makai Ingalls, a BHS swimming superstar, though a newbie to water polo.

Returning for her fourth consecutive year at the helm, Gellert said she believes the atmosphere of respect and support is the source of the Spartans’ success more than anything else.

“I try to talk to them with respect, and I think that’s how I earn respect from them, and I think that carries through,” she said. “I expect a lot from them and they rise to it, and I hold myself to the same standards. As much as we can show that every person, from head coach down to the freshman who’s having his third week this week, we all contribute equally, I think that tone has contributed to the success and not vice versa.”

The season began Sept. 6 with a one-point win on the road against Roosevelt, and continued with the island squad’s first home match on Tuesday.

They will next play at home at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 18 against Curtis — seeking to end that 100-match streak.

The team motto this year is “Do what they won’t today so you can do what they can’t tomorrow,” a creed Gellert said her boys are already halfway to fulfilling — this season and beyond.

“Our team has grown a ton since I started back and I’m having more and more fun each year.”