Freshman moving to front for Lake Park

Lake Park freshman Jennifer Hauser has shown throughout the season that she's not intimidated by the pressure or the competition of high school swimming.

At last weekend's Wildcat Championships meet at West Chicago, which adopted the prelim-finals format of the state meet, Hauser won the 50 freestyle in 24.64, finished second in the 100 breaststroke and anchored both the 200 medley relay and the 200 freestyle relay.

"I've been swimming since I was 6 years old," Hauser said. "So I like the competition and it doesn't make me nervous. I love the team and the support I'm getting and I'm trying to do my part to help our team get better."

Lake Park coach Dan Witteveen believes that Hauser will continue to improve her times for the rest of the season and qualify for state in the 50 free and possible in the breaststroke. She also will be a key to the Lancers' relays that, with an influx of young talent, are aiming to qualify for state.

"We can move Jennifer around and choose what we want her to do," Witteveen said. "She doesn't surprise me because we were aware of her coming up in age-group club swimming. This freshman class is the best we've had here in a long time."

The future looks good:

Heather Rady, a junior on the Glenbard North/East co-op team, also gave a glimpse of promising days ahead at the Wildcat Championships.

Rady finished third in the 100 freestyle and fourth in the 50 free swimming her best time in both events.

"Heather has unlimited potential," said co-op coach Chris Delgaldo. "She's doing everything possible to get to the next level. She's so versatile and improving so much that we have to figure out what she's going to swim at sectionals. The fly is also a possibility."

"Today was the best I've ever done," Rady said. "I'm excited that I'm getting closer and closer to the state cut."

Getting closer:

When the West Chicago/Batavia team missed the state cut in five events by a combined shortfall of about one second, coach Nick Parry was disappointed but not discouraged. The close finishes showed him that things are looking up with the program and that there were better days ahead for his young team.

This year the returnees from that squad are a year older, faster and more confident, and they're joined by some very good freshmen.

At last week's Wildcat Championships, the hosts finished third behind Waubonsie Valley and the Bartlett/Streamwood Sabrehawks thanks to a number of fine swims and an especially good showing in the free relays.

West Chicago/Batavia came up just short of taking the victory in the 400 free relay with a lineup of freshman Ula Konopko, sophomores Natalie Nelson and Myanna Cook (anchor) and junior Lindsay Bruce.

Konopko, Nelson and Bruce were joined by captain Krysta Mroz, one of the few seniors, to finish third in the 200 free relay. In addition Cook produced a second-place finish in the 100 backstroke and third in the 100 butterfly. Bruce was second in the 500 free and fourth in the 200 free, while Konopko, Nelson and freshman Rachel Eng all made it to the finals in their individual events.

"We have better depth than we've had," Parry said. "And all of our girls who will be on our sectional team improve a little bit with each swim. Today's meet showed that they can compete with all the noise and competition they'll face at the state meet. And we're faster than we were at this time last year. We have a good chance to qualify our relays and several individual events."

Good practice for state:

For the Glenbard West/South co-op program Hera Miao and Skyler Budny were outstanding at the Wildcat Championships. Miao was fourth in the breaststroke, while Budny made it to the finals in both the 200 and 500 freestyle.

"We had a lot of solid swims today," coach Chris Flamion said. "This meet's format is good because you can swim Friday and then make corrections on Saturday. Miao looks like she can qualify for state in the fly and the breaststroke. And Budny could make it in the distance freestyle races.

Talented freshmen in Naperville too:

Both Naperville North and Naperville Central feature outstanding freshmen who promise to achieve great things over the next few years.

The Huskies finished second to the host Beads at last weekend's Rosary Invitational, and the Redhawks were fourth.

Naperville North rookie Connie Zhang won the 200 free, and Naperville Central first-year swimming Audrey Coffey won the 500 freestyle.

"Connie is a quiet girl, but she's very aggressive in the water," said Naperville North coach Andy McWhirter. "She does great underwater work and she explodes off the turns. She's really poised for a freshman and she will help make our relays stronger."

Another Huskies freshman, Claire Russell, was third in the 500 free.

Huskies sophomore Emily Chuang won the backstroke at Rosary, just missing the longstanding school record.

"We're looking forward to her breaking the record before sectionals," McWhirter said. "I'm looking forward to her swimming on Saturday at state. And she can swim either the fly or the backstroke on the medley relay."

Coffey has shown a great deal of versatility for the Redhawks. She's strong in the 500 and 200 free but can also go in the 200 IM and the 100 butterfly.

"She's really a hard worker and she has a big heart," said Naperville Central coach Mike Adams. "Audrey has a great swimming background and she really wants it. We have a good group returning from last year, and when you can add someone of Audrey's caliber to the mix it always helps."