Girls swimming: Rosary a dominant state champ again
Like one of those beaded necklaces team members and coaches wore around their necks on Saturday, there is something special that links Rosary's girls swimmers.
It's not just the trophies, though there have been enough to more than fill one trophy case at the school. It's not the state titles, though Rosary took the first-place trophy for the traditional post-meet swim at the Evanston pool after claiming the state title the Beads have been favored to win. You need to look deeper, though to find that linkage, you only need ask any of the team members.
“Being a Rosary Bead means so much more than anything,” Rosary senior Alexis Yager said. “I love all of these girls so much. We spend every day together and we never get tired of each other.”
Rosary junior Camryn Streid put things a little differently, but Beads swimmers are most definitely deeply connected.
“Rosary's like a 'sister bond,' ” Streid said. “Knowing you have your teammates there, you know you have them to support you and that you can talk to each other about anything. It's really special.”
What the Beads do in the water is quite unique too, and they were sharp on Saturday in winning their second consecutive state title and sixth in the last 11 state meets.
“This whole season, this has been our goal,” Streid said. “We had a pep talk this morning and we were reminded that this is our goal and what we need to do, and we worked to get it done.”
The Beads scored 185.5 points, nearly 20 points more than they “scored” in Friday's prelims, when Rosary coach Bill Schalz felt his team didn't swim at its best. Only points on Saturday count in the state meet, and the Beads defeated conference rival Loyola. The Oswego co-op finished third and claimed its first state swimming trophy.
“This is a big trophy for us, because it puts us in second place for trophies all-time,” Schalz said. “We struggled (Friday) and we were flat today until 100 fly. When (Streid) won that, it really sparked us.”
Streid claimed the Beads' only individual state title when she edged Loyola's Olivia Andrew by .04 to win that 100 butterfly final.
“Since last year, I was hoping to finish first,” Streid said. “Ever since I finished that race, this has been my goal, to win first this year. All this season, I've been focusing on this, and now it happened.”
Streid said she knew the race was close. She had a narrow lead midway through the contest, but Andrew closed strongly and forced the eye-blink finish.
“I had a long finish, so that worried me,” Streid said. “But then I looked at the clock and I heard everyone cheering, so then I knew.”
Streid also finished ninth in the 200 IM, part of a parade of Beads swimmers to receive awards following races.
Of those, however, only one knew her time in the program was ending. Alexis Yager concluded the high school portion of her swim career with a strong day. She was second to Urbana's Ema Rajic in the 200 IM and Rajic broke the state record in that event. Yager also tied with Waubonsie Valley's Hannah Hunt in the 100 breaststroke. Yager further swam legs in both Rosary freestyle relays, and both those teams were victorious.
Though a key team member and one of the undoubted leaders, Yager's season was interrupted by college visits and then illness.
“It wasn't a good year in many ways, but I am glad I was able to do here at state what I wanted to, and we did as a team what we wanted to do too,” Yager said. “It's an honor to be a part of this awesome team.”
Yager was the Beads' captain this year, and that experience was needed many times through the season, even when she was ill and relegated to being a cheerleader for her teammates.
“I always want to make sure everyone else is OK,” Yager said. “It's so much more about them than it is about me, because I know how to handle myself. But I want to make sure they're going to be OK.”
Individually, Anne Tavierne was fourth in the 200 freestyle while teammate Linda Licari was 10th in the event. Later in the meet, Tavierne was seventh in the 100 freestyle. Athena Ye was eighth in the 50 freestyle, two places ahead of teammate Emily Ryan. Ye also finished seventh in the 100 backstroke. Kathryn Mueller was fourth in the 100 butterfly while Sydney VanOvermeiren added a ninth-place finish in the 500 freestyle to a 10th-place finish in the 100 breaststroke.
Bartlett cracked the state's Top 10 for the first time and finished seventh, just ahead of St. Charles North. Key for the Sabrehawks were their two freestyle relays, which were the first in school history to score in a state meet. The 200 freestyle relay was seventh and the meet-ending 400 freestyle relay was fourth.
Saturday saw the end of three Bartlett swimmers' careers, Kayla Filipek, Brianna Cichon and Morgan Kelly, athletes who have been crucial in their team's rise.
“Seventh place overall is great for our seniors to finish on a very high note,” Bartlett-Streamwood coach Jeremy Meserole said. “We definitely held our own today. I'm proud of them. They really just had fun. They've in pressure situations before and they know how to handle it.”
Filipek capped her career with a second-place finish in the 50 freestyle, a race she lost to Oak Park's Natalie Ungaretti by .01. Filipek returned to finish third in the 100 freestyle.
“I know what to expect now,” Filipek said. “The meet's progressed. My freshman year, I didn't even final and sophomore year, I made only a consolation final. It's been interesting being in the different finals and watching other people go through and to see how other people race.”
When she first qualified, Filipek was Bartlett-Streamwood's lone qualifier. She leaves a team that has become a program.
“We've brought more people every year, which is great,” Filipek said. “More girls in our school want to try swimming and more people are interested in what we do. This year's JV swimmers got to see us go to this meet, and now it's something they will want to do.”
St. Charles North put together a solid Saturday to earn its spot in the Top 10. That effort began with a seventh place finish in the 200 medley relay and carried through its 11th-place finish in the 400 free relay. The school's 400 free relay placed 12th.
Among individual swimmers, Audrey Guyett had the best day, placing second in the 500 freestyle and third in the 200 freestyle.
“Even though I'm experienced, I still get nervous coming back to this meet,” Guyett said. “You never know how good the other girls will be. It's a tough meet.”
The North Stars Mallory Jump was sixth in the 100 butterfly and 11th in the 200 IM. Megan Armstrong was 10th in the 100 backstroke. Every St. Charles North swimmer who scored in finals returns next year, and the North Stars have an abundance of talent after winning both levels of the Upstate Eight Conference meet this year.
“There's many sides to being here,” St. Charles North coach Rob Rooney said. “There's being here, which is an honor. Competing in finals is awesome. With that comes the second part of it, which is the learning part of it and understanding what we have to do and how to manage our season. Aug. 11, the start of practice, is circled right now, and that's going to be the conversation we'll have with them on the way home.”
Crystal Lake co-op's Valerie Tarazi capped her third successful state meet by placing sixth in the 200 IM and second in the 100 breaststroke to Urbana's Ema Rajic.
“My IM didn't feel good, but I got second in the breastroke,” Tarazi said. “Ema's a great swimmer, so I'm happy with it.”
Tarazi has a busy offseason planned as she begins preparation for her senior high school season.
“I'm swimming in Winter Junior Nationals in two weeks,” Tarazi said. “I'm fully-tapered, but I'm stretching my taper another two weeks. Then I'm going to take about three weeks off. I haven't taken any time off in 18 months. Then I'm going to train hard and next year is going to be awesome. High school is a great time of the year.”
St. Charles East scored in three individual races. Freshman Mary Jania was 12th in the 200 IM and fifth in the 100 breaststroke. Junior Kayla Jones was seventh in the 100 breaststroke.
Jania's swims concluded a breakout freshman season.
“I had a good time with the team,” Jania said. “There's always nerves, but I was able to get over them and have a great time and swim as fast as I could.”
Jones seemed to struggle early in the season, but Saints coach Joe Cabel said the junior had a solid plan for how the season would work out, and Jones herself said Saturday things went close to plan.
“You always want to do better, but I'm really satisfied with how the week turned out,” Jones said. “This was the first year I made it back for finals. I'm glad I made it back with (Jania) because were BFFs and we always train together. When I look back to the beginning of the season to now, there's a big difference.”
Jania said she is ready to begin preparations for her sophomore season.
“It gives me a sense of confidence that I made it back for finals,” she said. “It gives me an idea where I'm starting the next season and where I should end up.”
For Jones, the preparations aren't just for her next high school season but for her senior year.
“This gives me a lot of confidence, knowing that I made it back to finals,” she said. “I'm really happy and I'm excited for next year. I think we're going to get a lot of new, good girls for the team, and I'm excited for what's going to happen as a senior.”