Girls swimming: Rosary in great position to defend state title
It says something about the depth in quality possessed by Rosary's girls swim team when the Beads did not swim as well as they had figured to at Friday's state prelims in Evanston, yet they are still well on-course to claim the state title in today's finals.
The Beads "scored" roughly 165 points on Friday, though no points are officially scored in prelims. Still, prelim scoring is unbelievably accurate in predicting who the players will be for the state trophies, and Rosary carries a strong 25-point lead over the Oswego co-op heading into Saturday's finals. Loyola and New Trier will battle for third place, but both are well behind both Rosary and Oswego.
"We felt this was a team that could get to 200 points," Rosary coach Bill Schalz said. "This is a meet where you can be a little off and it can really hurt you in the points. We were just a little off today."
Despite not swimming peak performances, the Beads still slowly stockpiled points race after race and not only have a strong lead heading into Saturday, they have plenty of room to gain more points when they are actually scored today.
"I think we were swimming not to lose the meet, and that's a dangerous place to be," Schalz said. "Oswego had a great day today. They swam well and were aggressive and had a great day."
All three Rosary relays qualified in the championship finals. Alexis Yager, battling illness all week, qualified second-fastest in the 200 IM and fourth-fastest in the 100 breaststroke.
"She was just a rock star today," Schalz said. "Emily Ryan swam great on three relays and got through in the 50. I could just go down the list."
Camryn Streid had the fastest prelim time in the 100 butterfly and is joined in that finals race by teammate Kathryn Mueller. Streid also swims in the consolation final of the 200 IM. Anne Tavierne swims in the championship final in the 200 freestyle and the consolation final in the 100 freestyle. Athena Ye has two consolation final swims - in the 50 freestyle alongside teammate Ryan and in the 100 backstroke. Linda Licari qualified for the consolation heat in the 200 freestyle and Sydney VanOvermeiren is a consolation finalist in the 500 freestyle and the 100 breaststroke.
"We are blessed to have so many fast kids and we are blessed to have so many club programs that help get us the athletes and then our coaches have been able to put maximize our talents and do well in the state meet," Schalz said.
St. Charles North's young team stumbled a bit in the 200 medley relay, but still qualified eighth. The North Stars had a very solid evening. Audrey Guyett was third-fastest in the 200 freestyle and also third-fastest in the 500 freestyle. She will swim in an attempt to become her school's first girls swimming state champion in each race on Saturday.
Mallory Jump swims for the state championship in the 100 butterfly and in the consolation final of the 200 IM while Megan Armstrong swims in the consolation final in the 100 backstroke. Both of St. Charles North's freestyle relays compete in the consolation finals on Saturday.
Not one of the swimmers competing on Saturday for St. Charles North is a senior.
"If you were to tell me after last year, when we finished third, and with us graduating what we graduated, that we'd put three relays in finals with a whole new group, I'd have been pretty happy," St. Charles North coach Rob Rooney said.
While the trophies are beyond the North Stars this fall, the team can still finish well inside the Top 10, and possibly in the Top 5, depending on results Saturday. Points are only scored in the finals.
"We did well," Rooney said. "We've got to be on all cylinders and we have to have a couple of kids relax and have a little more fun with it. We've got a bunch of freshmen and sophomores fighting the big fight, and I'm proud of the way they did it. We've got chances - (Jump) in the fly and (Guyett) in the 500 - to do something special."
Bartlett-Streamwood remains poised for its best state finish. The Sabrehawks have four swims, three of which have the state title on the line, and two of which are relay swims.
"It's working out exactly the way we hoped it would," Bartlett-Streamwood coach Jeremy Meserole said. "We couldn't have asked for it to have happened any differently."
Leading the way individually is senior Kayla Filipek, who was the fastest qualifier in the 50 freestyle and fifth-fastest in the 100 freestyle. The Sabrehawks' 400 freestyle relay qualified fifth-fastest while the 200 freestyle relay just missed the championship final and was seventh-fastest on Friday.
"This will be the first time we've scored a relay in school history," Meserole said. "In 2014, (Filipek) scored the first points in school history and we've built on that. This is going to be fun."
St. Charles East has three swims in Saturday's finals. Freshman Mary Jania qualified for the championship final of the 100 breaststroke and the consolation final of the 200 IM. Junior Kayla Jones swims in the consolation final of the 100 breaststroke.
Crystal Lake co-op junior Valerie Tarazi completed another successful prelim day by qualifying for the championship heat in both her races. She is seeded fifth in the 200 IM and second behind Urbana's Ema Rajic in the 100 breaststroke.
"It helps so much having the experience here," Tarazi said. "Knowing what you're coming into and that it's such an exciting environment and that it's so intense. I knew that I had to come in here and put my headphones on and focus on what I had to do and not let the crowd get to me."
Tarazi's time in the breaststroke was a blistering 1:01.90, which was briefly the state record, though Rajic followed by swimming her heat and bettering Tarazi's time with a 1:00.90 mark.
"My strategy for that race was to go out really, really hard in the first 50 and then my training would take me on the back half," Tarazi said. "I was pretty happy. The whole race felt good. I'm excited to come back tomorrow. Ema's one of my best friends, so it'll be a great race."
West Aurora sophomore Gina Jenkins did not advance from the 500 prelims, but her presence on-deck was noteworthy as the first Blackhawks swimmer since 2010 to compete in the state meet.
"The path is to get down here, get the experience, go out and swim hard, then get back here next year and be ready to roll," West Aurora coach Chris Ranallo said. "She took that to heart. She knows that she did it. She swam well. Now it's time for off-season training and to be ready to go next August."