Defending champ opens with win

In its first girls swim meet of the season, defending state champion Rosary defeated Oswego East 156-98 in a tri-meet that also featured West Aurora.

The Blackhawks, also in their first meet of the 2008 campaign, scored 50 points.

But as well as they did, coach Bill Schalz's goal wasn't necessarily to see how well the Beads swam in their opening meet.

"A lot of these kids all swim together in the off-season," Schalz said. "It's such a homecoming meet for everyone. Yeah, we're looking for racing, but this first one is for the new swimmers to get an idea what a high school meet's like. We'll get into racing a little bit down the road."

Rosary won nine of 11 varsity events - the Beads lack a diving well and never have that event in their home meets.

"I thought we looked good," Schalz said. "We're racing pretty well in the early season. You kind of grind through a summer club season. Then you get here and there's more hype, more fans and there's more excitement. It's fun to watch them to get back into that rhythm."

West Aurora has over 30 swimmers in the water this fall, roughly double what the Blackhawks fielded in 2007. Jackie Iglesias, a state qualifier last season, recorded the team's best finish when she touched third in the 100 backstroke in an event won by Rosary freshman Emily Launer.

"We're very rough right now," West Aurora coach Joe Neukirch said. "We have a young team. It's a large team, but we have a lot of newcomers, not only to swimming but to the high school."