Rowland shines for CATS Aquatic
The Libertyville/Vernon Hills-based CATS Aquatic team cheered wildly as Peter Grumhaus (Lake Bluff) earned a ninth-place finish and Junior National-qualifying time of 2:08.97 in the 200 backstroke during the finals of the Speedo Champions Series meet July 23 at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.
The excitement continued for the CATS as Melanie Rowland (Vernon Hills) won the 100 butterfly in 1:02.42, earning a national cut. Rowland also qualified in the 200 butterfly (2:16.63, fourth) for the ConocoPhillips national championships at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Cal., Aug. 2-6.
CATS coach Vlad Pyshnenko couldn’t contain his excitement as he cheered, waving his arms as he looked at his stopwatch.
“I almost lost my voice,” Pyshnenko said. “Good thing that I can whistle.”
Earlier in the day, new CATS member Chad Church (Wadsworth) earned a qualifying cut in the 100 breaststroke (1:07.53, 20th) and will compete in the Speedo junior national championships at Stanford Aug. 8-12. Grumhaus and Ben Snader (Libertyville) qualified for the meet in the 100 breaststroke during the winter season.
A total of 12 elite senior athletes from CATS Aquatic met the qualifying times and joined 847 other athletes, including many Division I swimmers, from a six-state area. Other CATS Aquatic members who traveled to the Speedo Champions meet included Kevin Lenz (Vernon Hills), Alex Snarski (Libertyville), Atticus Rush (Libertyville), Kirk Dickson (Grayslake), Kyle Aerne (Lake Villa), Whitney Mitchell (Libertyville), Zoe Eldridge (Vernon Hills) and Michelle Garland (Grayslake).
Rowland also finished sixth in the 100 freestyle and 20th in the 200 freestyle. Garland turned in a trio of 12th-place finishes — in the 100 breaststroke, 200 breaststroke and 400 IM.
Mitchell took 19th in the 400 IM and 22nd in the 200 IM. Snader was 19th in the 200 breaststroke and 24th in the 100 breaststroke. Grumhaus also had a fifth in the 1,500 free.
CATS Aquatic claimed 15th place out of 106 teams.
CATS Aquatic tryouts: The Libertyville and Vernon Hills-based CATS Aquatic Team will hold fall/winter tryouts Monday, Aug. 15, from 6-8 p.m. at Vernon Hills High School.Tryouts will be done on a first come first serve basis. Results from tryouts of those who have made the team will be posted on the CATS Aquatic Team website on Wednesday, Aug. 17 (cats-aquatics.com).Swimmers 8 and under must be able to swim 25 yards of freestyle with rotary breathing and 25 yards of backstroke to be considered for the team. Swimmers 9-10 must be able to swim 50 yards of freestyle with rotary breathing and 25 yards of both backstroke and breaststroke to be considered for the team. Swimmers 11 and older must be able to swim 100 yards of freestyle with rotary breathing, 50 yards of both backstroke and breaststroke and 25 yards of butterfly to be considered for the team. Practices begin Tuesday, Sept. 6 and will run through March 1.For group descriptions, general practice schedule and fees, go to cats-aquatics.com and click the team info link. Questions, please contact: head coach Jeff Arce (Jeff@cats-aquatics.com), head senior coach Vlad Pyshnenko (Vlad@cats-aquatics.com) or assistant head coach Kevin Zakrzewski (Kevin@cats-aquatics.com).