Saxons show bright future

For the last 15 years, Barrington's swim team has owned the Mid-Suburban League.

And there are few who doubt the Fillies will make it 16 consecutive titles this season.

But that doesn't mean that the rest of the MSL West is conceding, at least when it comes to being competitive with Barrington.

In the MSL West opener for both squads, visiting Schaumburg earned a convincing 114-72 victory over Palatine on Wednesday night. It was enough to make second-year Schaumburg coach Tim Kasper feel confident about the future of his team.

"We had the times of Palatine from other meets," Kasper said of the design of his lineup yesterday. "Ed's (Palatine's Richardson) is a good coach. I knew we would be OK."

Schaumburg won 11 of 12 events, and placed 1-2 in two others -- the 200 meter IM with Michelle Fasano (1:12.41) and Julie Stevens (1:21.63) and the 500 free with Andrea Curry (5:09.60) and Nicole Clearfield (5:26.33).

"We're training very hard and we're swimming very well despite being very tired," Kasper said. "I like to see good times. We're swimming consistently better now than we did at the same time last year. There were some races where we didn't swim well."

One Saxon who did have a good race was Fasano, who edged out Palatine's Monica Dorszewski 1:21.20-1:21.25 to win the 100 breaststroke.

Schaumburg has roughly 13 freshmen who came out for the team. Three of them are already swimming on the varsity level.

Palatine's lone victor was Dorszewski in the 200 IM (2:43.43).

As for the question about anyone in the West stopping Barrington in its march to a 16th title, Kasper said, "Barrington is very strong. They have a very deep team. I don't think anyone can challenge them."

Schaumburg didn't lose many swimmers from a year ago, but they did lose a very talented competitor in Nikki Aritzmendi. Aritzmendi was a multiple state qualifier and finding a replacement for her will not be easy.

Sammy Schuckles, a freshman, has shown promise in the 50 free and 100 backstroke.

"I think we have a good chance of getting a relay team to state," said Kasper, who has been coaching different sports at Schaumburg the last 25 years.