Munson, D-C hoping to make sectional waves

Dundee-Crown junior swimmer Karlee Munson owes a little something to surfing.

This past summer, Munson hurt her knee surfing in California.

"I was surfing at Laguna Beach and I hit a couple of bad waves," said Munson. "The tide ripped me apart. I was on crutches. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise."

Unable to do the breaststroke or butterfly because of the injury, Munson turned her attention to the backstroke, a race she will attempt to qualify for state in at Saturday's St. Charles East girls swimming sectional at the Norris Center.

"I started practicing the freestyle and backstroke and my times have improved since I got injured," said Munson.

So much so that Munson won the Fox Valley Conference individual championship in the backstroke. She is under a second away from meeting the minimum state qualifying standard. Munson went 1:01.62 at conference. State qualifying is 1:00.82.

"I've been working on my turns and getting my momentum going from the start," said Munson. "I kind of lacked getting moving right away in the beginning, but I've really improved on that. I've realized that it is only 100 and you can sprint right from the get-go."

Munson has a little bit of added motivation heading into St. Charles Saturday. She narrowly missed qualifying for state last year.

"I was less than a half-second off last year," said Munson. "I'm a little more confident going into this weekend than I was last year. I have less time to drop this year. I'm not that far off. Hopefully with the full taper and shave I can do it."

D-C coach Kendra Everett knows Munson will be fired up Saturday.

"She just missed qualifying last year. It was a devastating miss for her," said Everett. "She's got the drive to qualify this year. She wants it really bad."

Munson and her D-C teammates are still flying high from last weekend's FVC championship victory.

"Our team is still kind of in shock," said Munson, who swims for the Dundee Dolphins swim club. "We went out to dinner afterwards and we were sitting there with the trophy and it still hadn't hit us yet. We did it two years in a row. We we're looking forward to last weekend and now we have even more to look forward to this weekend. This is the biggest meet of the season."

D-C junior Kali Williams will attempt to qualify in the 50 free. She swam 25.94 at conference. (24.84 is state time). The Chargers also won the medley and 400 relays at conference.

Larkin sophomore Hilary Ottaviano has also found success in the 100 backstroke.

But Ottaviano did not swim the event until the Bartlett Relays this year. She's only swam the race 4 times, including her recent win at the Upstate Eight Conference meet where she clocked in at 1:01.84 (state time is 1:00.82).

"I'm not really a backstroker," said Ottaviano. "It's weird to be swimming it. I did it at the Bartlett Relays and did really well. I was really surprised when I won conference."

Ottaviano's best stroke is the butterfly.

"The backstroke is weird. It's different," said Ottaviano. "I'm pretty strong and that's probably from the fly. That helps a lot. The fly is a tough stroke. You have to be strong."

Ottaviano, an accomplished club swimmer, admits she is a bit on the nervous side thinking about the sectional meet.

"I'm really nervous," said Ottaviano. "It will be close in both events. But I'm used to the big swim meets. I'll be fine. It's natural to get a little nervous. It's not a big deal."

Elgin-Larkin co-op coach Rick Andresen knows Ottaviano will be ready.

"She's a racer," said Andresen. "She likes to compete and doesn't like to lose."

Jacobs will also be part of the field. The Golden Eagles took second recently at the FVC meet.

Junior Emily Susmarski (FVC champion in the 200 for second year in a row) and freshman Amanda Podczerwinski (FVC champion in the 500 and league newcomer of the year) have led the way for the Golden Eagles. The 200 free relay team of Courtney and Chelsea Conzelman, Susmarksi and Kristin Horney has also shown improvements.

"This season has been a great improvement for us," said Jacobs coach Shawn Brodie. "It was a little bittersweet being right there at the end at conference. But this season has been a lot better for us. The girls are swimming a lot better and working very hard."

The rest of the local field at St. Charles features, the Bartlett-Streamwood co-op, South Elgin, the Crystal Lake Central-Crystal Lake South-Prairie Ridge co-op and Cary-Grove.

Cary-Grove's Kimberly Kalenda recently won the FVC 100 and 50 titles en route to earning league meet co-MVP honors. Crystal Lake co-op's Natalie Walker won the FVC breaststroke title and is a returning state medalist in that event (6th in 2006) and is looking for her fourth trip to the state meet.

A number of individuals will represent area schools at St. Charles. The Burlington Central sister duo of Alex and Courtney VanOost will compete. Courtney VanOost was a double state qualifier last year as a sophomore in the backstroke and 200. Her sister is a sophomore this year and competes in the IM, backstroke and butterfly.

St. Edward sophomore Megan Venlos qualified for the state meet as a freshman in the 200. She will be joined at the sectional by classmate Maggie Coyle.

Elgin Academy will have two entrants in freshman Kasey Rauscheneberger (50, 100) and senior Sally Moseley (fly, 500).

At the sectional level, the winner in each event and any swimmer or relay team satisfying the minimum state qualifying time will advance to next weekend's state finals at Evanston Township High School.