Guyett, St. Charles North dominate UEC meet
As swim seasons turn to the postseason, the greatest excitement is always first reserved for the junior-varsity swimmers who come to an end at the conference meet. There will be plenty of time to cheer varsity swimmers at the IHSA sectional meet and possibly at the state meet.
For the opening weekend, though, the junior-varsity has prepared, rested and will see large time drops having gone through its season-ending taper. For St. Charles North, that meant a double dose of celebrating on Saturday at West Chicago as the North Stars won both the varsity and junior-varsity levels of the Upstate Eight Conference meet.
"I'm looking a lot at those JV kids," St. Charles North coach Rob Rooney said. "Katie Cantrell and Megan Wineinger and Mary Ellen Wolff and Hailey Olsen, those swimmers. Our varsity swimmers, they did awesome, but I was really happy with the tapered group."
That happiness continued through the varsity athletes whose season still has three weeks before it ends. North Stars junior Audrey Guyett figures to be one of the key athletes in the state meet Nov. 18-19 at Evanston. Guyett also had a stellar conference meet, winning the 200-yard freestyle and the 500 freestyle, both by large margins.
"We did great as a team, but we wanted to get those conference girls to be able to swim to the best of their abilities today. For the state girls, it was a good win. It's getting closer to the end, though we haven't cut down on our yardage at all," Guyett said.
Varsity athletes' training yardage remains high and won't decrease until just before or just after the Nov. 12 IHSA sectional meets. Despite swimming since August, many swimmers logged conference times slower than their seed times.
"I think if the varsity group watched the tapered group today and saw how they did, they'll see what they're capable of. They're going to be fine. We've got to get our lineup organized for the end, get our relays together, and we'll do all of that," Rooney said.
The North Stars dominated both levels of the meet ahead of second-placed St. Charles East. At the varsity level, the score was 311-265, and St. Charles North recorded a series of victories in addition to Guyett's. Mallory Jump won the 200 IM and 100 butterfly and Megan Armstrong won the 100 backstroke.
St. Charles East settled into second place early in the meet and maintained that spot through the afternoon. The Saints opened the swimming portion of the meet in a good spot as Courtney Green and L.J. Carne finished 1-2 in the morning's diving competition. Freshman Mary Jania added a first-place finish in the 100 breaststroke.
"We've got some tired kids, but to see the kids who were rested do well, that helps them get through the day. They know they didn't set season-best times, but if they were all dropping, you'd be concerned about that too. You want to swim faster, but if you do, it's not a good sign," St. Charles East coach Joe Cabel said.
Jania was also second in the 100 breaststroke in her first conference meet.
"We're going to come up on our taper pretty soon. My team is like my second family. There was a lot of excitement because, for some of the girls, this is their last meet," Jania said.
Bartlett-Streamwood finished a solid third and battled to close on St. Charles East throughout the meet, ultimately falling 265-253.
"They swam their butts off," Bartlett-Streamwood coach Jeremy Meserole said. "It's been kind of fun to see it all come together. The girls are getting comfortable with their roles."
Sabrehawks senior Kayla Filipek dominated the sprint freestyle races. She broke the longest-standing conference record with her 23.85 in the 50 freestyle, which bettered the 24.08 logged by St. Charles' Kristen Brennan in 1999. Filipek also broke the 100 freestyle record with her 52.25 swim, which broke the 52.33 set by St. Charles North's Samantha Sauer in 2015.
"I feel really good about how I swam and how the other girls swam, but we also had some really good swims from JV, which is super-exciting. We all push each other, because we all want to go fast and go to state," Filipek said.
Bartlett-Streamwood shifted its freestyle relays in midseason, and the move has done wonders for both quartets. The Sabrehawks won both the 200 freestyle relay and the 400 freestyle relay, with both swims faster than the IHSA state qualifying time.
"The group of seniors we have came in as freshmen and got to state and got a little experience," Meserole said. "Last year, we got really close to getting a relay back on Saturday for finals at the state meet. That sparked something in them and they've made that their mission."
Host West Chicago-Batavia finished fourth and recorded its best finish when Natalie Nelson was fourth in the 100 freestyle. Kelly Sego was fifth in the 200 IM.
"The teams like (St. Charles) North and East and Bartlett, we don't have the firepower to keep up with them," West Chicago-Batavia coach Nick Parry said. "That being said, we swam really, really well for the point we were in the season.
West Chicago's junior varsity finished third behind the two St. Charles schools, which sent some enthusiasm through the team.
"For what we looked like late this week in practice and for what we looked like today, we did way better than I could have imagined," West Chicago-Batavia coach Nick Parry said. "We didn't have great times, but we were right on our in-season best times, which is where we want to be right now."
West Aurora finished fifth, but scored 174 points and were well behind Bartlett-Streamwood, but the collective performances showed a program that continues to build.
"Looking at points, I think we scored more than last year, and we'll take and the varsity will definitely be ready for sectionals," West Aurora coach Chris Ranallo said.
The Blackhawks best finish came from Sophie Bastian, who was third in the 100 butterfly.
"She wasn't tapered but dropped 2 seconds in that race," Ranallo said. "I don't know where that came from, but she's ready. Gina Jenkins is ready and the rest of the team is going to be ready to taper in two weeks.
South Elgin-Geneva finished sixth and Elgin-Larkin was seventh in the conference meet. The highest finish by either team was seventh place by South Elgin-Geneva's Carly McGuire in the 100 backstroke.