St. Charles schools, Rosary looking strong heading into sectionals

Since mid-August, the focus for girls swim teams has been on training as athletes have piled up incredible numbers of yards in practice as well as numerous hours in the weight room.

Saturday and for the next week, the focus shifts to the clock, where times and finishes are what matters. Swimming's postseason starts with Saturday's sectional meets and continues through the Nov. 21-22 state meet at Evanston.

St. Charles' high schools compete in a sectional meet at St. Charles North where St. Charles East will be one of the contenders for the meet title with the host North Stars. Rosary will similarly be a favorite at Metea Valley in a sectional at which West Aurora also competes.

Sectional titles carry no benefit in terms of state qualification and only reward the team that scores the most points on Saturday. For those teams, the most important thing is having swimmers either win their events or finish below the state qualifying standard.

"There's always an added element to the sectional with it being a qualifying meet," St. Charles North coach Rob Rooney said. "It's a unique, fun situation for a competitor to see how they handle a sectional. And then we'll all see how it sets up for the state meet. You've got to have nerves of steel to get the job done."

Teams get to enter two swimmers in each of the eight individual swimming events as well as one quartet in each of the three relays along with two divers. The maximum number of entries a team could have in Evanston is 21.

"We want to get as many people there as we can," St. Charles East coach Joe Cabel said. "We want to find a place and a spot where everyone can get there. In our business, everyone seeks perfection and in this meet, perfection is something in everything. We've worked on some gaps to try to fill in those spots for us."

Swimmers have recently backed off from the intense midseason practices. This resting after extreme training starts swimmers on their taper, and times will drop as overworked muscles recover. Each team will taper some swimmers to get them to the state meet while other swimmers will try to qualify for the state meet in mid-taper, hoping for those large time drops to take place at the state meet.

"One of the things we've told our kids all year long is that we're a better team than last year," Rosary coach Bill Schalz said. "We have a very strong freshman class and a lot of our returning kids had a great off-season. We predicted that some of the kids who were on our state team last year would not be on our state team this year and that certainly is the case. The competition has been so strong this year and I'm excited going into the sectional meet."

St. Charles North enters its sectional meet two weeks after winning the Upstate Eight Conference title. The North Stars will set their lineup differently to which they put into the water at Waubonsie Valley, however.

"All we're looking for is qualifying and swimming the way we're supposed to swim," Rooney said. "We're going into this meet to qualify our state kids and get them through. We're broken into two groups. There is a state taper group and a sectional taper group and both groups are eager to compete."

In junior Monica Guyett, St. Charles North has one of the premier swimmers in the state. Guyett's freshman sister Audrey is also one Illinois' best. The two are not the whole team, but the pair are a strong one-two punch.

"Right now, both of them are totally team focused," Rooney said. "We're focused as a group of girls trying to get our goal. Everyone's swimming as a team, supporting each other as a team and working in practice as a team."

Samantha Sauer is one of the fastest backstroke swimmers this year and both the North Stars 200-yard freestyle relay and 400 freestyle relay have been under the state cut.

"We're looking at it as a team," Rooney said. "Everyone's together and we're going to move straight forward and feed off the atmosphere of the sectional meet."

St. Charles East finished second in the Upstate Eight meet and defeated St. Charles North in the team's conference dual meet. The Saints have a similarly strong group in their lineup for Saturday.

"We have a good balance," Cabel said. "We've got two seniors, a few juniors and a few sophomores and freshmen."

Junior Jordan Morling has the top in-season 100 backstroke time this year, is strong in the 200 IM and is ready for a strong second postseason in Illinois swimming.

"She knows what she's got to do in order to take care of business," Cabel said. "She's got national experience and she's got that college outlook, which helps her focus."

Sophomore Amy Pearson has had a breakout season and seeks her first trip to the state finals. Returning qualifiers include senior Kate Nagler, juniors Izzy Herb and Lucy Johnson and sophomore Anna O'Malley,

"That experience is a nice thing to have in your pocket," Cabel said. "They've been there and they know what it's about. We want to get as many through as we can - hopefully all of them - to the state meet. That's the key."

Cabel said his team has formed a closeness through the high school season, but that these bonds extend far beyond the early morning practices and the meets from the last four months.

"They've worked 42 weeks for this, not 14," Cabel said. "They've put in a lot of background and have been to some really big meets outside the high school season. They're used to the big meets. They're used to 'prelim-finals' meets. They face it not once a year but six to eight times a year. It helps them have presence and to know what to expect."

Predicting the top teams in the state is a difficult thing. But both St. Charles teams are very strong this season. And so is Rosary, which came in second two weeks ago in the Metro Catholic Conference meet to Loyola, widely seen as the favorite to win the state championship this fall.

"We've got a great mix of young swimmers who are talented," Schalz said. "We have Erin Hart and Annie Gosselin and Alexis Yager who swam in the state meet last year and that's a real positive. It helps those younger swimmers who may be freaking out a little bit."

The Beads have four freshmen in their state lineup this weekend: Camryn Streid, Sammie Laurich, Mackenzie Adkins and Emily Ryan. Taken together, Rosary has a powerhouse team that could have a special postseason.

"We don't have that Mary Descenza type or an Olivia Scott type where you say 'she's going to win the event,'" Schalz said. "We have a lot of depth and we could score in every event at the state meet. We have swimmers like Annie Gosselin or Erin Ryan who were both top six last year and they know how to get into the finals. They're going to have to fight for it, but they've done it."

The group of teams at Metea Valley is traditionally among the fastest in the state and produces the most state qualifiers. With Naperville North, Naperville Central, Neuqua Valley, Waubonsie Valley and Benet Academy there along with the host Mustangs, there are plenty of strong schools, in addition to the top individuals who make the field.

West Aurora's hopes rest with its divers and with Annika Ness, who hopes to become the first Blackhawks swimmer since Jackie Iglesias qualified in 2009.

After finishing eighth in the Upstate Eight, West Aurora's young team has a platform on which to build at Metea Valley and into 2015.