St. Charles East storms to sectional crown
From the meet-opening 200-yard medley relay through the meet-ending 400 freestyle relay, St. Charles East's swimmers solidly churned out state qualifying results at Saturday's St. Charles North sectional.
Race by race, the Saints filled their qualifying list for next weekend's state meet at Evanston, and they came very close to the pinnacle of qualifying all possible entries.
St. Charles East won the sectional title ahead of the host North Stars, qualified all three relays and 12 of a possible 16 individual entries.
"There are a ton of girls going to state," St. Charles East senior Kate Nagler said. "We're a big family and we're all sisters. It was really nice to say that, as sisters, we were able to qualify at sectionals and now, as sisters, we're going to go to state as well. It's great bonding and creates great memories for us as well."
Largely unrested for the sectional meet, the Saints can now set their sights on the state meet, where they will have one of the largest on-deck contingents along with other top teams including Loyola, Rosary, Fremd and Lake Forest.
"It's exciting to think about how much more effort and great times we'll have next week when we're all shaved and tapered and ready to go 150 percent more than this week. It's really been great to see all our work and dedication pay off,"
Nagler said.
Nagler was third in the 100 freestyle and participated in all three qualifying relays. The 200 medley of Jordan Morling, Kayla Jones, Izzy Herb and Nagler finished first, as did the 200 freestyle relay of Nagler, Amy Pearson, Herb and Jones.
The 400 freestyle relay of Nagler, Pearson, Morling and Anna O'Malley finished second.
"The whole team dynamic gets me going," Nagler said. "It's nice to be able to say that as a leader and as a senior, I was able to help motivate my teammates and help them push through to get to where we are today."
Each of those relay swimmers advanced in individual events. The Saints won two races. Jordan Morling was first in the 100 backstroke and also qualified in the 200 IM after finishing second.
"It's really exciting," Morling said. "We're all at different points of our resting. To do this well at this point of our resting, or even for those of us who have even started, it's exciting for what's going to come."
Morling's taper begins on Monday.
"I'm exhausted," she said. "To do this well when I feel this way makes me excited because I haven't started my taper yet. I want to feel bad right now so I can feel really good when I start my taper."
Morling was fourth in the backstroke and ninth in the 200 IM last year and the junior is the Saints' only scoring individual swimmer returning to the state meet.
"I think this time around, I will be able to focus more," Morling said. "Last year, it was a shock to me to see that many people and that it was that hot and that fast. It was insane and hopefully I'll focus better."
Pearson won the 200 freestyle and qualified after finishing third in the 400 freestyle and will make her first trip to the state meet next weekend.
"(Pearson) has used the experience of her teammates, which has rubbed off on her," St. Charles East coach Joe Cabel said. "She's matured a lot and I think a lot of that's down to the people around her."
O'Malley qualified in the 200 freestyle and the 100 butterfly; Herb advanced in the 200 IM and the 100 backstroke; Jones qualified in the 100 breaststroke while Lucy Johnson qualified in the 100 butterfly and the 100 breaststroke.
"They stayed in their lane and they did what they did what they needed to do and didn't let their focus go outside their lane and they swam like they could," Cabel said.
"They got fired up for the meet. It's just a mental game of being calm, cool and collected and I think today, they came in and got the job done."
St. Charles North finished a strong second in the meet and qualified all three relays, diver Abby Ponte and seven individual entries to the state meet.
"Winning conference was one of our goals for the season, and we did that," St. Charles North coach Rob Rooney said. "The other was to set ourselves up for the state meet the right way. That's something that we did today."
The North Stars are a mixture of youth and experience. For experience, junior Monica Guyett was second in the 200 freestyle and second in the 500 freestyle and heads to her third straight state meet. She was eighth in the 500 freestyle a year ago.
"I think we are in the best spot we've been in since about 2008 or 2009," Rooney said. "We held back and this is the first time we've held back this much. I'm excited, but we've got to swim fast next weekend."
Guyett's freshman sister Audrey was second in the 200 IM and won the 500 freestyle.
"It was kind of nerve-wracking," Audrey Guyett said. "I was kind of nervous for my first race, the medley relay. I was stressed out, but it felt good. I think it's going to be very hard. But I'm ready for it and I think our whole team's ready for it."
Another North Stars freshman, Jillian Waslawski, won the 50 freestyle and sent a jolt through the team's bench area.
"We were untapered for this meet and swam through it to get the times," Waslawski said. "It's such an adrenaline rush to be able to contribute to my team, because that's what I want to do, help my team. I just went in there going 'I want
to do this and I want to make it happen.'"
The North Stars also qualified both 100 backstroke entries. Hannah Olsen swam from the third of four heats - the "slow heat" and finished third. Sam Sauer placed fourth and also qualified.
"(Sauer), it was a little nerve-wracking," Rooney said. "But that was the plan."