Rosary rallies to win own invite with strong 400 free relay

Naperville North showed right from the beginning of Saturday's Rosary Swimming Invitational that it had come to push the hosts as far as they could. That competition lasted all the way through the final event of the meet, when Rosary put together a strong 400-yard freestyle relay performance and claimed the meet title.

But the Huskies, who fell 365-352, led by 1 point heading into that final event and Rosary needed not only the win by its top team but the sixth-place finish by its "B" relay in order to claim the overall victory.

"What I like today is that we had our top swimmers step up," Rosary coach Bill Schalz said. "But at the end of the meet, we needed our B 400 relay to be able to beat North's B 400 relay. And they did that. I told our kids who are not quite to state level that the meet was going to come down to them and they did a great job."

Rosary's B relay in the 400 freestyle was made of Kendall Ford, Emily Kasper, Grace Creigthon and Francesca Devine. Their result, combined with the victory by the A relay - comprised of Sarah Sykstus, Mackenzie Powers, Emily Launer and Rachel Burke - helped create the gap between two teams which know each other well. Many of Naperville North's swimmers compete for Schalz's Academy Bullets club team.

"It was fun to come back and win," Schalz said. "Naperville North's got a good team." One of Rosary's star seniors, Olivia Scott, missed Saturday's meet while on a college visit to Auburn University.

Naperville North showed its intention to compete from the opening 200 medley relay. Jennifer Law, Caroline Chang, Anna Williams and Amy Novak won the event and that momentum carried the Huskies through the rest of the meet.

"We had a great meet today," Naperville North coach Kate Toennis said. "The girls came out and they were confident. That medley relay really set a good tone for them. Rosary is kind of the untouchable team. To come out in the first race and beat them gave them the confidence the rest of the meet."

Relays were hugely contested between Rosary and Naperville North. The Beads won the 200 freestyle relay by .01 when Diana Norkus out-touched North's Law. But the Huskies battled back and took their 1-point lead into the final relay thanks to Chang's victory in the 100 breaststroke.

"I could not have asked for a better effort," Toennis said. "They were out there racing. I believe success builds success. For them to have a little of it helps them stay motivated and gain confidence. Even though it is early in the season, to have some good swims under their belt builds confidence."

Neuqua Valley finished third in the meet. With Naperville North and Rosary claiming every event title, the Wildcats were left scrapping for what points they could get.

"It was OK," Neuqua Valley coach Mac Guy said. "We've been lucky to have a good string of results at the start of the season. We had a period of four weeks where we didn't race anybody. So for our first meet, we were chomping at the bit, ready to go. "This meet, I think, represented a bit of a lull. We had some good times, but I think we underperformed a little bit."

Naperville Central split its squad on Saturday, with the freshmen and sophomores heading to their own meet. The upperclassmen finished fourth at Rosary.

"I think the girls did, overall, quite well based on where we are in our training," Naperville Central assistant coach Aaron Maschman said. "We've been working them pretty hard and so I wouldn't expect that they would be getting best times. And yet some of them were still on the door knocking on that, getting close. That's nice to see."

The fifth team in the invitational. Rockford Boylan, did not field a full lineup and finished fifth.