Rosary begins drive for 5 straight titles

With four state championship trophies glittering in the school's trophy case, you might expect things to be a little different as Rosary prepares for its 2010 season and a shot at a fifth straight state title.

But practices look much the same - swimmers moving through the water in what seem like a never-ending series of laps.

"I would say it's business as usual," Rosary coach Bill Schalz said. "Swimmers swim. Swimmers screw up. Bill gets mad. Bill yells. Swimmers swim better."

To deny that the thought of winning a state title would be silly. Everyone associated with Rosary swimming knows the tradition the school has built in the last four seasons. From a school that always seemed to come very close to winning, the Beads have conquered all before them since the 2006 state meet.

Rosary's streak is the third-longest in IHSA history. Jennifer Heyer-Olsen's St. Charles teams won six straight from 1994-1999 and New Trier won seven in a row from 1981-1987.

While no one knows the precise destination of this year's state title, no one is going to expect the Beads to be just mere participants in the state meet, which takes place Nov. 19-20 at Evanston.

"We don't sit around talking about dynasties and titles," Schalz said. "We sit down and talk about the team's expectations for the year and of course winning the state title comes into the conversation. But it's not like we're sitting around making our lineups for Evanston right now. It's all about day-to-day practices."

To further make his point, Schalz quoted football coach Lou Holtz, who once said that "Win" is an acronym for "What's Important Now." Schalz pointed out that "what's important now is getting in shape."

So the Beads, like all other teams in the state, are swimming lot of laps now. Even those who compete in the sport year-round and combine weight training into their weekly routines are finding the workload a challenge.

"The first day you start to get back into shape," Rosary senior GiSun Pak said. "The next morning, I could barely walk. You don't think 'I'm doing this for state.' You just think 'I want to get through this because it's going to make me better."

Pak has had a modestly successful career which has been hurt by injuries that have blighted the last two seasons. She swam in the Beads' state runner-up medley relay a year ago after missing her sophomore year and most of her junior year with various injuries.

"I'm hoping I don't get hurt this year," Pak said. "I've been really careful to not do anything crazy."

Pak said her goal for the team is to get everyone qualified for the state meet and to take a maximum number of swimmers and alternates to Evanston.

"We go out to eat every year after the sectional meet and everyone has a good time, but I always hate to see a teammate sad if they didn't make it to state," Pak said. "I really want to get everybody to state this year."

Schalz said the team has that kind of potential.

"I like our team and I like our chances," he said. "I think we'll go in and mix it up."

Schalz said St. Charles East's dynasty was a good example of that "just do it" attitude.

"The one thing about St. Charles was that every year, they stepped up and swam well," Schalz said. "The last four years, we stepped up and swam well. If you get the kids qualified, then they have to swim fast."

Schalz said the difference between winning and losing can often be very narrow - though Rosary's titles have all been by comfortable margins. But in 2006, Barrington came in as the top-seeded team on paper. Rosary's taper came through for them, times dropped considerably from their sectional performances and the Beads won by 40 points.

Had Rosary's taper not come through, or if Barrrington's had gone better, events might have been different. The Beads also swam that meet without any mistakes, such as the disqualification suffered by star Olivia Scott in 2008. But in 2008, the Beads won by 83 points anyway. But things can sometimes conspire for or against teams.

"The first year St. Charles East won, us and New Trier and St. Charles were all in for the mix," Schalz said. "We had a 400 free relay that swam 2 seconds faster on Saturday than it did on Friday. If we had done that on Friday, we would have swimming that relay in the championship heat, and we'd have won the state meet. Instead, we finished third."

Schalz said one thing linking the three dynasties in Illinois girls swimming is their club programs.

"St. Charles, New Trier and our Academy program - they've been the dominant club teams at the age group state meet for a number of years," Schalz said. "Wheaton's been good and there are some others, but those three, year in, year out, have been in the top five. Now what's that look like in high school? We have swimmers on eight to 10 high school teams in our club program, but there's no denying that people see our success and want to swim for us."

But, as Schalz said, the Academy program was successful before the Beads started winning state titles and other club programs are still producing strong swimmers even while Rosary has had its string of titles going.

"It's not never-lasting," Schalz said. "There were years when St. Charles was a great team and we wanted to be that team that was winning the state title. We looked at St. Charles as a team that was where we wanted to be, so we wanted to work hard to get to that spot."

Having reached those heights for four straight years, Rosary certainly won't be giving away the trophy to anyone this year. Schalz said this may be a year in which his team might not win any races at the state meet but could still contend for the title through overall depth.

"This group works as a team," Schalz said. "When we do our dry land running, the girls are there cheering for each other as they finish. They don't just finish and move off. They stay and cheer. You get a girl who's new to the varsity who goes 'oh my God, Emily Launer is cheering for me and I didn't think she even knew me. It's like that fireman's mentality. Like they said in the movie "Backdraft:" "you go - we all go."