Strong finish for Rosary's swim season
In the moments immediately after Rosary's four-year run as state girls swimming champions ended, coach Bill Schalz was an interesting study.
What he did first was to talk to his team. The Beads had recovered after their meet-opening 200-yard medley relay was disqualified and still managed to finish third behind New Trier and Loyola. So there was some encouragement as well as some discussion about that as well as the days and weeks to come.
Then Schalz moved just to his right and toward the blocks, to the spot on the bleachers where New Trier's team had stood and cheered all afternoon. And he gave the Trevians a series of high-fives.
Next Schalz went the other direction, to where Loyola's coaching staff stood, and congratulated them.
Then he talked about how swimming is just that kind of sport.
“We were talking during the meet that ‘in what sport do you stand on the sidelines next to the team next to the teams you're competing against?' ” Schalz said. “We had New Trier on one side of us and Loyola on the other and Neuqua Valley was right there too. And nobody was yelling at each other. We were all hanging out, talking. When our medley got disqualified, the first person to ask me was (New Trier coach) Bruce Woodbury. He said ‘What happened?' And it wasn't to make fun of us. He wanted to know. It is a special thing about this sport.”
The final surge for the Beads came in the 200 freestyle relay, when Burke, Sarah Sykstus, Amber Calderone and Katherine Hare finished first. Coupled with a win by Molly Coonce in the 100 breaststroke, the Beads had a shot at second place. A fifth-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay sealed third place for Rosary.
“Our team, we're all sprinters,” Burke said. “I'm a sprinter. Sarah Sykstus is a sprinter. Katherine Hare and Amber Calderone – obviously they swam the 50. That's where our team really thrives. I felt like, together, we were all able to pick ourselves back up again and tell ourselves we could still get a trophy. That's what the goal turned into after the first relay: just get a trophy, do our best and see what happens.”
Looking forward: New Trier will certainly be difficult to contain again in 2011. Fenwick came with a star group of freshmen. Neuqua Valley is always a force in the state meet. Overall, regaining the state title will be a challenge for Rosary next year, but it's something the Beads are ready to undertake.
“We definitely want to do better,” Burke said. “We wanted to do better than fifth on the last relay today and get second. We want to get better overall for next year. We do have goals to build off of this meet. When you look at it, none of the girls at this meet were part of the initial group that won the first of these meets in a row. It was a big difference not having athletes like Kally (Kayhee), Kara (Savegnago), Elizabeth Tavierne, Mary Tonner, Diana (Norkus), Olivia (Scott) and Mackenzie (Powers).
“Those people motivated you. And it's a difference from being a little freshman or sophomore having someone to hold your hand to being an upperclassman and having to be a leader.”
Burke says that process has taken place and the Class of 2012 – a large class to be sure – will be a driving force next fall.
“It is a big change,” Burke said. “We're going to grow off this meet. I feel we've been growing for the last four years. Our group of juniors, we're all very close. I think we'll be ready to step up and be stronger in August.”
Saints preserved: St. Charles East finished 10th in the state meet, and with Emma Smith back as a senior and Nicole Chapko returning for her junior season, there is plenty of talent back for the Saints. All four members of the school's 200 medley relay return in 2011, including current sophomore Mary Snyder and freshman Stephanie Garvin.
“I think next year will be even better because we'll be getting some good freshmen,” Chapko said. “I think we'll do even better.”
Between now and the August start of the next girls swimming season, all elite athletes will do a lot of swimming for their respective clubs. For an athlete like Chapko, a pair of top-six finishes in this year's state meet can be a springboard into a strong club season.
“We'll go to juniors in Atlanta and then we'll take a little break and then we'll pick it back up again,” Chapko said.
Those short course junior national championships take place Dec. 9-11 at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center.
“We'll take maybe a week off,” Chapko said. “There are several national meets we'll go to. Hopefully it makes us stronger so we can do even better.”
The Saints took a step forward in not resting their key swimmers for the state sectional meets, concentrating their large taper-related time drop for the state meet. Saving that rest for the end of the season is a bit of a mental game, and Smith said she and her teammates embraced the challenge.
“We had a really good season and I think we are all happy with how we did,” Smith said. “We've gotten stronger every year. We can be even stronger next year.”
Smith came very close to winning the 200 individual medley, though she finished second to Downers Grove North's Haley Sims. Smith said her plan of attack in the coming months will be similar to Chapko's.
“I've still got a bunch more meets to go this season,” Smith said. “Club season is really important. You have all these opportunities to go to national meets and swim at a national level with other top athletes from other states.”
Smith will be one of the Saints senior leaders next season.
Senior Stars: Two of St. Charles North's seniors, Lauren Zima and Lauren Reynolds, competed on Saturday in this year's state meet. Their success Zima was 8th in the 100 butterfly and Reynolds was 8th in the 100 backstroke should give the North Stars something on which to build in 2011.
“I think we did really, really well at sectionals,” Zima said. “I think our relays were still strong this weekend but we were a bit of a long shot. We had a good effort from everyone. Lauren and I did really well to get in and a lot of people had best times and good swims.”
Zima said she and her teammates talked with coach Rob Rooney on Friday after preliminaries about items such as the seasonal improvement of the school's relays relative to where they were positioned in August.
“We, as a team, kept together and we were more cohesive at the end of the season,” Zima said.
An off-season that was puncuated, among other things, by a national cut in the 200 butterfly, helped Zima through the 2009-10 club season. She is ready to get back in the water for the coming club season.
“I'm excited,” Zima said. “I really enjoy long-course season, so I'm looking forward to get back to that. There are some other big meets through the winter so I'm excited about that too.”
Reynolds said her 2010 state meet experience was positive.
“We've all done pretty well,” she said. “It's a good learning experience so we can come back next year better and stronger.”
But she added that she's looking forward to her own club season.
“I'm going to keep training,” Reynolds said. “We'll just keep going. I feel like over that amount of time, you grow more as a swimmer and you realize what you need to work on so you can come back and be better. I want to come back and try to get top six next year.”