Enough practice - time to make perfect

All those early morning and long afternoon practices are done now.

The work that the best swimmers across the state have put in gets put on display Saturday in an attempt to advance to next weekend's state meet at New Trier High School.

All the conditioning, the technique work, the desire will be there to see as most swimmers have rested, or "tapered" in swimming parlance, to be at their very best for one (and hopefully two) more weeks. Sectional meets at Barrington, St. Charles East and Glenbrook South will be the stage for this day of drama.

Veteran Schaumburg coach Tom Gallagher thinks there's something even more important than the physical side of the sport.

"Never, ever take success for granted," he says. "Work for it, dream it, visualize it, believe it and go swim fast.

"Nothing beat belief in self - not even training."

Believe it.

The cold truth: Barrington sophomore Greg Alexander was one key to the Broncos' victory last weekend in the Mid-Suburban League meet.

It turns out he surprised even himself in winning the 100 breaststroke (1:01.96) and finishing third in the 200 IM (2:00.41).

It's not so much that he was able to produce those times - it's that he did it under less than ideal circumstances.

"I'm fighting a cold," said Alexander on Saturday. "It's really surprising - but I'll take it."

Rest is best: Conant's Jacob Jeske finished third in the 100 breastroke in a season-best time of 1:03.53 in the Mid-Suburban League, extending a sequence of progressively faster times in that race over the last several weeks.

Coach Brian Drenth sees a connection between those times and how much rest Jeske is able to get.

"He battles insomnia, and it seems to be worse when we're training hard," Drenth said. "Just lately, he's been able to rest a little bit more, and it shows in the pool."