Rosary swims to Metro Catholic title
Two-thirds of the way through Saturday's Metro Catholic Athletic Conference girls swim meet, Fenwick decided to pump up the volume, played some pop music and got swimmers moving and grooving.
And various pockets of swimmers responded, jumping and jiving with the beat before getting serious for the 200-freestyle relay and the final events of the meet.
Some of Rosary's swimmers got into the act too. Athletes may be plenty tired as championship season begins and with the resting process known as tapering still a couple of weeks away. But that didn't stop the Beads from having a good time.
“They do have fun with it,” Schalz said. “There's no doubt that these guys want to win state. But they're not going ‘oh my God, we've got to win the state meet.'”
Rosary junior Katherine Hare “did not take part in that.” But she still found time to enjoy herself on deck during the meet.
“You try to have a good time,” Hare said. “You want to take it seriously but you don't want to punish yourself unnecessarily if you do badly. We're all tired – but we still like to have fun.”
Rosary's happy feelings continued through the awards ceremony, when they were handed the first place plaque after a 389-369 victory over second-placed Loyola.
“I think they looked good,” Schalz said. “It's hard to tell because we haven't started resting yet. But I think our kids looked great. What I really liked is that our younger kids, for whom this is this is their last meet, have all swam really well. So that kind of tells you you're on the right track.”
Historically, the Metro Catholic conference meet showcases some of the best athletes in the state. In addition to the four-time defending champion Beads, Loyola and third-placed Fenwick have plenty of star freestyle swimmers and will be expected to finish at least in the Top 10 at the state meet Nov. 19-20 at Evanston. Among their best are Fenwick freshman Mimi Schneider and Fenwick sophomore Evan Swenson.
“This is a sport that relies heavily on good sprint freestylers,” Schalz said. “Fenwick and Loyola have two of the best in the state. That amps up their free relays a lot. Fenwick was third in the state last year and Loyola is certainly a Top 10 team this year.”
But Rosary has talent of its own, and had the kind of broad-based success that has been this team's trademark this season. Rachel Burke and Emily Launer finished 1-2 in the 200 freestyle; Sarah Sykstus won the 200 individual medley; Molly Coonce and Sykstus were 1-2 in the 100 butterfly; Burke was second in the 100 freestyle; Launer won the 500 freestyle; Francesca Devine was third in the 100 backstroke and Coonce won the 100 breaststroke.
Additionally, Sykstus, Amber Calderone, Katherine Hare and Burke won the 200 freestyle relay and the other two relays finished second. Hare swam on all three relays and was fifth in the 50 freestyle.
“I think I could have done a little better,” Hare said. “But I tried my best and the team as a whole did really well.”
Calderone is a sophomore and Devine is a senior but those other listed beads are juniors.
“Our junior class is where the bulk of our points have come from,” Schalz said. “All three of our seniors swam well and they all had their best times of the season. Every single girl is contributing to this team and helped score points for us.”
The sectional meets are two weeks away and most of the Beads will still not start to fully taper until the week heading to the state meet.
St. Francis was ninth in the 11-team meet and saw Alex Niemi finish 11th in the 100 freestyle.
Benet finished a strong fourth, keyed by Maddi Webb and Cristina Favia. Favia, a junior, was fourth in the 200 freestyle and second in the 500 freestyle. Webb, a senior, finished fifth in the 200 freestyle and was fourth in the 100 freestyle.
St. Viator was eighth in the meet. Megan Shover finished seventh in the 50 freestyle, Erin Primdahl was seventh in the 100 butterfly while Melanie Battaglia and Stephanie Nolan were 7-8 in the 100 breaststroke.