Tri-Cities girls swimming state preview
In the world of fashion, "booted and suited" means to be dressed up, ready to go and rock the world with your sense of style.
In swimming, the swimming world, the equivalent phrase is "suited, shaved and tapered," and those there words have been used a lot this week as the state's fastest girls swimmers prepare for this weekend's state meet in Evanston.
After a season of overly intense training, swimmers taper their training, which allows overworked muscles to rest and athletes to see large time drops. At the same time, swimmers ritualistically remove arm and leg hair, both to reduce drag in the water but also to show they have sacrificed everything in preparation for a big meet. Finally, they don a modern, aerodynamic swimsuit rather than the ordinary suit used during the regular season.
Some of these changes are mental, some are physical, but the combination of all three turns these humans into aquatic dynamos for the state meet, which begins with Friday's prelims and continues through Saturday's finals.
Three area schools, Rosary, St. Charles East and St. Charles North are among the state's elite this year and all three have the potential to have a special weekend in the cauldron of the state meet, where the crowd feels literally on top of the pool deck, that deck is crowded and the Wildkits' cramped six-lane pool habitually sees record-setting performances.
Rosary enters the meet after winning the tough Metea Valley sectional and qualifying 13 entries for Friday's prelims. Loyola is favored to win the meet, but Rosary is one of those in the chasing pack. A year ago, the Beads finished ninth.
"Every single girl who made the state cut during the regular season and who wasn't suited for the sectional, got their cut," Rosary coach Bill Schalz said. "The 50 free is such a crapshoot to get the cut, so we did suit the girls for that. Katie Rentz suited for both her events, but she wasn't fully tapered."
Friday, the Beads will be ready to see how well they can qualify. Points are only scored from Saturday's finals, but all coaches agree the meet is won and lost every year on Friday. Only the top six qualifiers from each event race for the state title on Saturday. The next six swim in the consolation heat.
Rosary has a mix of swimmers in its state team. Individually, junior Annie Gosselin is the team's returning high finisher. She was fourth in the 200-yard IM and eighth in the 100 backstroke a year ago. Junior Erin Hart finished sixth in the 50 freestyle and 12th in the 100 freestyle.
"This is a tough meet and experience helps," Schalz said. "Fortunately, all our freshmen have seen the state meet. What drives some of these girls is their attitude. We went into the sectional meet and won it and that was our second goal for the day. We wanted to qualify people. (Gosselin and Hart) have been to finals and they get it. They won't be freaking out on Friday. Will they be nervous? Yes. But they won't be freaking out."
By holding its taper for the state meet, Rosary's performances at the sectional meet weren't anywhere near the fastest in the state. As a result, the Beads will swim from some early heats and from some awkward lane positions on Friday. Schalz said he is certain his suited, shaved and tapered team is ready to perform.
"A lot of our girls did not look good at the sectional, and that's a good omen," Schalz said. "It's disappointing that our relays are seeded so low. We need to get our medley out of the blocks quickly and get moving. We tell our girls that there are some in these heats on Friday who will go faster and some who will go slower. We can only worry about our lane and no one else."
St. Charles East came within four swims of qualifying all its swimming entries and takes a powerful group to the state meet as the Saints try to better last season's eighth-place finish.
"Our goal is always to finish in the Top 10," St. Charles East coach Joe Cabel said. "We'd always like to improve. We've got a great group going and a lot of potential. We barely made some cuts at the sectional and we'd like to improve our times. We graduated a ton of talent from our team last year, and I never thought we'd be saying these things about this team."
The Saints have been strong all season. They finished second at the Upstate Eight Conference meet to St. Charles North, then finished first ahead of the North Stars at St. Charles North's sectional meet.
"The thing that's neat for me, and this has come about naturally, is that they've gelled so well together and bonded really well," Cabel said. "They've done it kind of effortlessly. It was never a matter of 'we've got to do this.' It's something we've seen from the whole team, all 65 girls."
The Saints take eight members of that team to Evanston. The highest individual finisher from a year ago is junior Jordan Morling, who was fourth in the 100 backstroke and ninth in the 200 IM.
Morling's work ethic has driven her through her two years at St. Charles East and she is the eighth-fastest qualifier in the backstroke this year.
"If you let her, she'd go with double training sessions up till the last day of the state meet," Cabel said. "She wasn't happy with how she did last year, and she has a different set of goals than she did last year. She's a veteran now and she's going to be more loose as we get to the meet rather than tightening up."
Among newcomers to the Saints state team, sophomore Amy Pearson is seeded eighth in the 200 freestyle. Relays are always important in state meet scoring and the Saints have their 200 medley relay seeded sixth. The 200 freestyle relay is seeded ninth and the 400 freestyle relay qualified as well.
"You get double points in relays and our medley is right there," Cabel said. "The 200 free relay did a good job and put us in position. The 400 free relay, we've got to get it up there, but we think we've got some gas in the tank still there."
Overall, the Saints have a relaxed attitude heading to Friday's prelims. Cabel credits some of that to assistant coach Julia Shallcross, who swam for West Chicago and then UIC.
"We're having a mani-pedi party on Thursday night and Coach Cabel never would have thought of that," Cabel said. "(Shallcross) swam with my daughter at UIC. She has helped bring the female side out. There's a lot of strength in that that ole' Coach Cabel doesn't know about."
St. Charles North is firmly back on the girls state swimming map this year, with a solid group of entries along with all three relays entering Friday's prelims. Further, the North Stars held off resting their top swimmers at last week's sectional.
"It's definitely a little different than the last few years," St. Charles North coach Rob Rooney said. "We held back pretty hard going into sectionals. We kept running morning practices. For the six going, none of them were shaved down and none of them were ready to peak at sectional."
A top 10 team from 2000-2002, the North Stars last cracked that elite level when they were seventh in 2009.
"For us, it's about getting to that state meet and doing what we're capable of and swimming and diving to our capabilities," Rooney said.
The North Stars top returning individual is junior Monica Guyett, who was eighth in the 500 freestyle a year ago. She is the 13th fastest qualifier in the 200 freestyle and 11th-fastest in the 500 freestyle.
"The state meet is all about having fun," Rooney said. "You can't compete well unless you're having fun, and that's something this group has taught me is how to have fun. Monica Guyett has showed me that having fun is what this is supposed to be about."
Guyett's freshman sister Audrey is seeded 16th in the 200 IM and third in the 500 freestyle - the highest individual seeding of any area athlete.
The North Stars' relays could be a key as well. The 400 freestyle relay barely qualified with a somewhat makeshift lineup. That group has been as fast as 3:33 this year, and Rooney said they can go faster than that this weekend.
"They got behind in that sectional race and they got it done," Rooney said. "I'm glad that happened at sectional and it is what it is now. We got through and it's a great lesson for them to learn. Now we get to put in our real 400 free relay. We haven't put together our best 400 free relay all year."
Overall, Rooney said he is excited for the prospects of this team, and with what the platform this team can set for future teams.
"The last four years, ever since Angie (Chokran) graduated, have been a rebuilding process," Rooney said. "This group, along with the graduating classes of 2014 and 2013 has helped rebuild the program. All these kids have a lot of experience, from club swimming to high school meets. Our goal now is to take the next step."