Dauw returns to state with new perspective

If Caitlin Dauw seems a little more focused than usual on the state swim meet, she's got plenty of reason -- she's been waiting for this moment for quite some time.

Oh, Dauw was on-deck for the 2007 meet. But the St. Charles East junior was recovering from mononucleosis and was less than a shadow of her superlative self, swimming to a personally subpar state meet.

In that meet, Dauw only qualified in the 100-yard butterfly -- in which she finished 12th -- and with the 400 freestyle relay, which was disqualified in prelims.

Even that butterfly swim required massive effort. Dauw was seeded 25th in the event and dropped over 1 second in order to make the consolation finals.

The effort in making the meet left Dauw in a position to where she needed to rest for three weeks following the high school season.

If you're looking for a point when the match lit the pilot light in Dauw's personal furnace, that's a good place to start. A senior about to finish her career, Dauw has burned up lane after competitive lane this fall. But first she had to sit on the sidelines.

"I developed anemia because of the mono," Dauw said. "I took maybe even a little extra time to make sure I was going back into it healthy. By the time I got back into it, I was ready to get back swimming."

Many athletes speak of a sport as being "my life." In Dauw's case, that is likely true. Her parents were competitive swimmers at Michigan. Her oldest brother, Casey, is a legend at St. Charles and swam at Tennessee. Curtis, the middle sibling, was also a high school star and is now excelling at Michigan.

So taking Caitlin Dauw away from the water for three weeks had about the same effect as removing a fish from its tank for a few hours.

"Before that, the biggest break I'd gotten was maybe a week," Caitlin Dauw said. "I need to be active and it was hard to sit around and not do anything. I love swimming and I love the team. I love being around the people on my team. It's like my own little world."

Dauw has been back competitively for some time. She made an Olympic cut last summer -- making her one of 11 swimmers in St. Charles city history to do so.

And she showed everyone that she meant business in the water.

"She is swimming quite well now," St. Charles East coach Joe Cabel said. "She didn't taper for the sectional and we think we've worked so she has enough left in the tank to drop more time this weekend."

Dauw enters Friday's state meet prelims seeded fourth in the 200 freestyle and seeded second in the 100 butterfly.

"I'm very excited for it," Dauw said. "It's been a great season. I've stayed healthy and I've worked hard and I'm ready for it."

Through the trials of the 2007 season, Dauw came to some realizations.

"Mostly, I learned that I can't really control everything," Dauw said. "You have to take things in stride and deal with them. I definitely know that it's hard not being able to swim. I had to realize how lucky I am to be able to swim."

And as if she needed any reinforcement, she found out in one more way how her family feels about her. The troops were out in force for the state meet, as they always have been for any of the three swimming siblings.

"My oldest brother was at the state meet with his wife," Dauw said. "My parents were there. There was just a bunch of people to support me. They didn't care about how I swam. They knew it was hard for me. I come from a family with a swimming history and it was rough to go and swim way below 100 percent."

The family clan will again be out this weekend at New Trier -- and there is even a geographic chance Curtis Dauw could make an appearance in the stands.

"I know Casey and his wife are going to be there," Dauw said. "My dad will be there. My mom will be on deck. Curtis is swimming at a meet at Northwestern. He'll be around but we don't know if he'll be able to make it on Saturday. My grandfather from Michigan is also coming to watch me swim."

The athlete everyone will get to see is one who is ready to finish her career with a flourish. She's not going to stand and make predictions -- but she does expect to be able to give the all-out effort her body was unable to produce last year.

"I really do just want to go and get a best time," Dauw said. "Times are really the most important thing to me. It'd be really great to go in there and get a top time and win. But it is very competitive this year. If I swim a very fast time and it's not good enough to win it, I'll still be happy about it. But I'm not setting a place goal."

But would she like to win?

"I don't think there's anyone who wouldn't say that they wanted to win," Dauw said. "But I won't be heartbroken if I don't."

Mary Dauw, mother of the Dauw children, will be on-deck this year, as she has been all year in her role as the Saints assistant coach. And she admitted that it's tough watching her offspring swim, and that it always has been this way.

"I know that she definitely gets really nervous," Caitlin Dauw said. "It's hard for her to watch me swim because she knows there's nothing she can do. Last year, when she saw me swimming sick, she knew there wasn't anything she could do. I watched her watch my brothers at state and she was a nervous wreck. It's because she loves us so much."

Like her parents and Curtis -- Caitlin Dauw is headed to Michigan in 2008, where she will be a pre-med major and compete for one of the top programs in the nation.

"I'm very happy to be going to Michigan," Dauw said. "It's a great school. They have a great team. It's also nice to be going somewhere I already know someone, Curtis, that'll be great. My grandparents live an hour away from the school. There are so many good things about it. I'll have some support there already."

Cabel said Dauw's legacy is assured. She has the team record in the butterfly, an Olympic cut and was third in the butterfly as a sophomore.

"She's certainly done a lot for this program," Cabel said.

Dauw said she feels she "made my mark" at St. Charles. She gets one more chance to further that mark this weekend. And then she prepares for life at Ann Arbor, Mich.

"I'm sad to leave it behind, but I'm also ready to move on and experience college," Dauw said.