BC's Van Oost, St. Edward's Venlos off to state
Every year, IHSA sectional swim meets are notable for the proliferation of swim caps from schools you've never seen all year. Due to a lack of pools in many schools, a number of teams are unable to perform in the regular season. But the state allows these schools - if they have athletes - to enter athletes in the state series.
Two of those schools are Burlington Central and St. Edward. Each of those schools has plenty to cheer this year as well - both qualified a swimmer from the St. Charles East sectional Saturday to next week's state meet.
For Central, that athlete is senior Courtney Van Oost, and she said she looked forward this year, as she has every year, to her chance to pull on a blue cap with a "C" on it to represent the Rockets.
"It means a lot to me," Van Oost said. "I'm really happy that I'm a really good swimmer and I'm proud to support Central."
Van Oost has some specific goals when she heads to New Trier for the state meet next weekend. The preliminaries are Friday and the finals take place on Saturday. She swam 58.39 and won the 100-yard butterfly and also qualified in the 100 backstroke Saturday.
"I want to swim 57 in the fly and I want to beat my time in the backstroke," Van Oost said.
The only disappointment for Van Oost was that her sophomore sister Kristin did not also qualify for the state meet.
"She's a sophomore and she still has two years," Van Oost said. "I'd tell her to keep her head up and I have no doubt that she'll do it next year."
Like Van Oost, St. Edward's Megan Venlos competed for the final time in a state sectional meet. And like Central, St. Edward does not have a pool, meaning its athletes compete for only two meets a season.
"It's kind of bittersweet," Venlos said. "I'm excited to be leaving, but I'm going to miss it. High school swimming's fun, even though I only swim at sectionals and state."
Venlos swam 1:53.48 in the 200-yard freestyle and finished fourth. She swam 52.57 and finished second in the 100 freestyle. She qualified in both events because she swam faster than the IHSA's qualifying standard in each event.
"I kind of think of it as another meet to taper for and to get ready to swim fast in," Venlos said. "I'm in the middle of a very long winter season. I train with my club and swim at their invites and this is sort of another meet to do well at."
And yet Venlos takes particular pride in her annual opportunity to put on her St. Edward swim cap.
"I do," Venlos said. "I love my high school. It's a great community. I'm really proud to be a part of St. Ed's, even though there are only two girls on our team."
Venlos said she hopes to swim faster next weekend at the state meet.
"I'm happy with my swims," Venlos said. "I'm hoping to go much faster next weekend. I'm sure I will. But I'm happy with how I'm swimming. It's a lot faster than last year. I'll finish up my taper and rest a little more and get pumped for state."