Maine West thinks pink, and everybody wins
There was a swimming meet - and much more - on Saturday afternoon in Des Plaines.
Host Maine West unveiled a pool decorated in pink signs and flags, and its swimmers wore suits and caps to match. The Warriors were debuting their Swim For A Cure invitational, specifically designed to bring awareness to and, eventually, a cure for, breast cancer.
The idea for the meet originated with Maine West coach Ryan Claus some four years ago. He credits this year's Maine West swimmers and their parents for embracing the concept and making it such an all-around success.
"I think we really exceeded expectations," said Claus, who's coached at Maine West for 11 years. "My goal was to get the kids involved in something that's a little bit outside of what they'd normally be thinking about. And obviously, everyone has been touched in some way by cancer."
Maine West's swimmers drummed up funds by selling pink ribbons to faculty and parents, and by furnishing food for the concession stand. Team captains Ashley Winiecki and Kelly Hartley were key, Claus said, to the mission. Quite clearly, they enjoyed the whole experience.
"We had a meet Friday night (at Highland Park), came back to our pool and started all the decorating," said Hartley. "Everybody was tired, but we just had a blast with it. Then we went home, got a good night's sleep, and then coming back in here - everybody was just really fired up."
Which came in handy, as the nine-team field was quite evenly matched. Maine West pulled out several close races to win with 278 points, ahead of Addison Trail/Willowbrook (230) and St. Viator (220). Also in the field were Niles West (178, fourth), Niles North (146, fifth) and Wheeling (127, sixth).
Claus pointed to the second-place 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays as keys for Maine West as Casey Cullen, Sian Wilson, Rachel Murphy and Ailish O'Connell delivered big team points. O'Connell was a double individual winner, in the 50 free (25.75) and the 100 free (57.05), and Cullen won the 100 fly (1:05.19).
Another key was Jennifer Rey's second-place finish in diving. Her 11-dive score of 370.15 was less than a point away from winning, and it puts her roughly 30 points better than last season, when she delivered the best non-state qualifying sectional score.
The meet was also a winner for St. Viator, which treated it as a mid-season measuring point. After three meets the previous week, coach Adam Clementi broke up the training routine in the days leading up to this meet.
"Our girls were really looking forward to this," said Clementi. "They came in really excited about the meet. I could see they were just really ready to go."
Big moments for the Lions came from Madeline Wimberly, who broke six minutes in the 500 free for the first time while placing eighth, and from Carson Soch, who trimmed more than a second off her previous best in the 50 free with a time of 27.70.
St. Viator's medley relay of Margaret Stefanowski, Melanie Battaglia, Kelly Schreuder and Megan Shover won in 2:00.50; Shover placed third in the 50 free and fourth in the 100; and Stephanie Nolan won the 100 breaststroke by more than two seconds in 1:09.49.
"For someone like Stephanie, just holding her time through the middle of the season is a great accomplishment," said Clementi. "I keep trying to wipe her out (in practices), but she keeps bouncing back."
Addison Trail/Willowbrook had a double individual winner in Sarah Pardue (200 free, 500 free), and Colleen Joorfetz won the 200 IM and placed second in the breaststroke. AT/Willowbrook also had the winning 200 and 400 free relays with Pardue, Joorfetz, Carly Dvorak and Colleen Krawczykowski.
Wheeling's top finishes came from Amy Wilson in the 100 backstroke (second, 1:06.90) and from Christa Khatcherian in the 100 fly (1:07.46).
While Claus was happy to have won the meet, he was far happier with the overall outcome: A whole lot of people gave of themselves to the greater good.
"The girls from Marist had a bake sale - they raised about $350," Claus said. "That's the kind of thing we were looking for out of this. There's something more important here than just the meet."
And it's pretty clear Swim For A Cure will now become a well-attended Maine West tradition.
"I wish every invitational was something special, like this one was," said Winiecki, a Maine West senior. "It was so much fun. This is a meet I'll come back from college for, just to watch it and be a part of it again."