Geneva's turnout doubles as Vikings get ready for sectional

There is not, as any visitor will confirm, a large body of water located anywhere inside Geneva High School. Drinking fountains and sinks are about the closest you'll get, but there is definitely nothing remotely resembling a swimming pool.

So while it may not come as a surprise to learn that there are some talented swimmers in the school, it may be a bit surprising to know that the Vikings are sending a very full lineup to Saturday's St. Charles East Sectional.

"I had 23 sign up this year," Geneva coach Mary Keyzer said. "I was super-excited. I have 20 of them swimming with me this Saturday."

Keyzer teaches social studies at Geneva and is in her second year as coach of the Geneva swim team. A native of Yorkville - another school that does not have a swimming pool - she is very aware of what it means to be a swimming enthusiast without a high school team for which to compete.

"In the summers, we'd have guard games and we swam competitively as lifeguards," Keyzer said.

Geneva has had entries in sectional meets for a number of years. IHSA records date to 1996, and show that, in that time, no Vikings athlete has qualified for a state meet. Many schools without pools enter a handful of swimmers in sectionals. What is remarkable in Geneva's case is the swift increase in the turnout. A year ago, Geneva sent nine swimmers to the sectional meet. This year, the Vikings have multiple entries in every event.

"I think it's a great opportunity for girls who have a talent in this sport to show off that talent," Keyzer said. "They're showing what they can achieve."

The IHSA allows swimmers to compete for their school team in the postseason and still swim for their club teams throughout the regular season. But if athletes swim for their high school during the regular season, they are prohibited from competing for their club teams.

So the Vikings have had dry land "open gyms" to forge a sort of team atmosphere and will swim together for the first time on Saturday.

"What our athletic director, Jim Kafer, and I decided was to have open gyms but to allow them to swim with their clubs," Keyzer said. "By doing that, they cannot swim any meets before sectionals as a team."

Lauren Knop is a junior on Geneva's team. She will compete in the 100-yard backstroke and the 500 freestyle as well as with both freestyle relays for the Vikings in the sectional meet.

Knop has been a swimmer since she was 7. Formerly a competitor for the Geneva River Rats, she now swims for the Academy Bullets.

"My freshman year, we didn't have relays," Knop said. "Now we have all the events filled and everyone's swimming an event. I'm glad to see that Geneva's working on building up a swim team. Hopefully, in the future, we'll build it up even more." Knop is one of the Vikings with realistic aspirations for state meet qualification.

She is roughly one second from the state cuts in each of her individual events. "Hopefully I'll get it this year," she said.

Another swimmer with the potential to qualify for the state meet is freshman Rylee Merges, who competes in the 200 individual medley and the 100 freestyle in the sectional meet.

The question often comes up as to how devoted these two-week varsity swimmers are to high school swimming and how much focus they put into the IHSA postseason. The Vikings are very much into the idea of being "Geneva's Girls Swim Team" on Saturday and hopefully in a week's time at the state meet at New Trier.

"They're all going to be wearing matching caps with the school logo on them," Keyzer said. "They all have matching suits, though of course many will be wearing their fast suits in the sectional. They have told me they feel like a team."

Knop said she knows there is a different sense in the halls as the sectional meet approaches.

"People know there is a swim team now," she said. "My freshman year, they announced there'd be a swim team at sectionals and people would be like 'oh, there's a swim team?'"

Keyzer said she would love to organize a fully competitive team. The lack of a pool is an issue, and not one with an easy solution. There is no indoor pool available for high school training and meets in the city.

"If we can find a pool that will swim us during the week, I will change that," Keyzer said.

This year is the last year the Vikings compete in the Western Sun Conference, where there is no conference swim meet. Next year, however, Geneva moves into the Upstate Eight Conference, where powerhouses such as Neuqua Valley and the two St. Charles schools reside. And there are a number of schools with swim programs. Perhaps a solution will be found and Geneva will get to break out those blue caps more than a handful of times a year.

"My younger brother and sister are swimmers too and I kind of hope they have a high school swim season," Knop said. "Then I could come to their meets and cheer them on."