Teaming up with old rivals at new Glenbard co-op

The girls on the new Glenbard co-op swimming team know that they're part of something special.

After many years on the drawing board, Glenbard School District 87 has put together a combined girls varsity swimming team that includes athletes representing all four Glenbard schools.

In other sports these high schools are rivals, but now the swimmers are teammates with one common purpose.

Even though they're making extra sacrifices to compete on a high school team, the athletes are enjoying the experience and they're optimistic about the future.

"It's cool to see people coming from different park district swim teams," said junior Sara Taege of Glenbard East, who has high school experience participating at last year's high school sectionals as an unaffiliated swimmer. "It's great to meet all these girls from different schools and form a team and to encourage each other to do great. Because I have some experience, I want to set a good example and help my teammates."

The new co-op team practices five days a week after school at a Naperville fitness club in three lanes of a four-lane pool. Parents transport the swimmers to and from practice every day, and they've been arranging social events such as barbecues and pasta parties in order to build team spirit and make it a complete varsity experience.

The co-op team will also be holding fund-raisers to purchase essential swimming equipments such as pace clocks and backstroke flags.

"This has never been done before, combining four schools for one team," Taege said. "We'll encounter a lot of obstacles during the first year, but overcoming them will be an exciting challenge."

Coach Chris Del Galdo credits the parents and Glenbard North athletic director Matt Bowser for working out the details to turn a dream that has been out there for a long time into a reality.

"Matt has been our champion," Del Galdo said. "He organized the parents from all four schools and took it upon himself to work out the details that had been a roadblock to starting this program. He got all four schools working toward the same goal."

Even though Glenbard co-op is a new team, its 22-swimmer squad includes a handful of established swimmers, including Taege, freshman Mary Floren of Glenbard North and sophomore Connie Hsu of Glenbard South, a state qualifier who is already regarded as one of the top swimmers in Illinois.

"Connie's potential is limitless," Del Galdo said. "As an age-group swimmer she excelled at freestyle events and made junior nationals. But you can't peg her into one stroke because she'll surprise you every time. She's so young and she's gaining strength. Her technique and work ethic are flawless."

The Glenbard swimmers can take heart from the fact that they aren't the only high school team in DuPage County that is swimming under less-than-ideal conditions this year.

Benet, which was left without a home pool when neighboring Benedictine University closed its aquatic facility before the 2008 season, swam last year and will continue to practice at various health clubs and high schools, wherever they can get pool time or deck space for dry land training.

The Redwings finished 10th at state last year after swimming through all the hardships that go with inconsistent training schedules, narrow lanes and long travel times.

In fact the Benet swimmers, sporting T-shirts that said "no pool, no problem," thought the adverse conditions brought them closer together and kept them even more focused on their goals.

"Traveling to off-site practices actually worked to our benefit," said Benet coach Nicole Kothe. "The girls all say they bonded on the car trips to-and-from practice. And knowing that we would be the underdogs fueled a little fire in them. They wanted to prove they could do better than anyone who had their own pool."

And as the sport of high school swimming grows in DuPage County faster than the number of available pools, other schools are having to swim at off-campus locations or share their pools temporarily due to construction projects.

The Addison Trail-Willowbrook co-op team also has to get its girls together and then transport them to a health club in Addison.

"It's not an ideal situation by any stretch of the imagination," said Addison Trail-Willowbrook co-op coach Paul Anderson. "But the fact that the girls are so dedicated makes up for the shortcomings of the facilities. Last year we were conference champs after going through a season without a home pool. That says volumes about the girls' toughness."

Other swimming teams are in temporary sharing situations.

While the Naperville North Huskies are awaiting the scheduled reopening of their pool, which is being reconstructed, the team is practicing and hosting meets at archrival Naperville Central.

"(Naperville Central coach) Sue Welker and I have coached together for nine years at Naperville Waves, so we're working to make the best of the situation," said Naperville North coach Kate Toennis. "We hope our pool will be ready on time, because it will be nice for the girls to have their senior night there."

And because Metea Valley's pool will not be open until early next year, the Mustangs, in their initial year as a program, will be sharing practice time at Waubonsie Valley.

The lack of a home pool has worked out well for both the Wheaton co-op and Lake Park teams, who have been guests at Wheaton College and College of DuPage, respectively, and get to swim in state-of-the-art facilities.

Both arrangements have been working satisfactorily for Wheaton and Lake Park for many years, despite drawbacks such as travel times and scheduling adjustments.