Holladay regains her focus

Nikki Holladay might be the best swimmer nobody outside of the area has heard of.

It could be because she swims for St. Viator, a private school, but private schools have had enormous success at state. In fact, the Rosary Beads are the defending state champions.

Holladay swims in the heart of Mid-Suburban League territory, and her conference meets are long bus rides away from the MSL area.

But when it comes to proving herself in the pool, few swimmers do it better.

In her first two years of high school swimming, Holladay qualified to state in two relays and in the 100-yard backstroke.

Last year, she not only qualified to state again, she made it to the finals and finished sixth in the backstroke in 58.52. She swam it in 58.53 in the preliminaries.

"I was pretty nervous," recalled Holladay, who has achieved success -- including All-American honorable mention last year -- despite having to endure heart-breaking adversity.

Holladay started swimming with the McHenry County YMCA, then with the Piranhas Patriot Aquatic Club out of Stevenson.

But when her club coach, Brian Artel, died, Holladay's interest in swimming began to wane.

"We were very close," Holladay said. "He was my coach for only three years, but he was the best coach I ever had. I went to nationals with him.

"When my coach passed away, I had to switch teams. But I was at a point where I wasn't sure if I wanted to swim anymore."

In high school, Holladay also had to adjust to a new coach, Adam Clementi, during her junior year.

"Adam's great," Holladay said. "I miss Brian, but I have just as much confidence in Adam. If Adam told me that if I ate Butterfingers the rest of the year to make state, I'd eat Butterfingers the rest of the year."

"She's very dedicated to the sport," Clementi said. "There's been a re-dedication to swimming the last two years.

"She's had two other coaches, and there was a time when she wanted to see if she could trust me. From the practices we had, she just took off. She was always game for everything we tried."

For now, Holladay will try to get over her jitters as she competes in the 100 back and 100 butterfly beginning with today's preliminaries at New Trier High School.

She's hoping her next team will be at a college somewhere out east.