Girls swimming: St. Charles North wins own invite

There is a point when swim teams begin turning their ships toward the end of the season, and for girls teams, that time is October, when a myriad of decisions that will impact the end of season meets are made.

That makes St. Charles North's annual invitational the perfect meet at the right time. The competition is strong and the meet allows teams a large number of entries per event, so coaches can see who they like in a variety of situations.

The host North Stars, who won this year's 15-team meet 336-305 over second-placed Neuqua Valley, are no different, with coach Rob Rooney sure to analyze the results to make decisions on who swims which events and at what level as the season steams to the Oct. 29 conference meets and then into the IHSA postseason.

"We had a good week of training with speed work and some strength stuff, so I was happy with what we did today," Rooney said. "They believe in things that we're doing, and that belief is huge."

A year ago, Neuqua Valley finished ahead of the North Stars in a meet that went to the final event. This year, the meet was well-decided as the meet drew to a close.

"Losing this meet made us want to come in and get that win," St. Charles North's Audrey Guyett said. "It feels really good to win this meet."

Guyett won the 200-yard freestyle and the 500 freestyle and was part of the North Stars' victorious 200 medley relay.

"It's only the middle of the season and we've been working hard and the practices have been hard," Guyett said. "We had a meet (Friday) night and we did very well, but we were fatigued from that, so coming back to win is a good thing."

The North Stars also got event victories from Mallory Jump in the 200 IM and the 100 butterfly while Megan Armstrong was second in the 500 freestyle.

"The girls are doing a great job of supporting each other, being the best they can be and I'm seeing swims from all kids that are so much better than they were a year ago. We had 15 girls here today and they all contributed to this team, and that was huge," Rooney said.

Within the team group, there are always athletes who make a move forward and have impressive days, whether or not they win their races. Mary Kate Phillips, for example, was third in the 500 freestyle.

"Last weekend, I had a really good meet and dropped seven seconds from my time," Phillips said. "I just backed it up and I was proud of that."

Bartlett-Streamwood continued its season-long improvement by finishing fourth, narrowly behind third-placed Hinsdale Central. The Sabrehawks' Kayla Filipek won the 100 freestyle and was second in the 200 freestyle. Bartlett-Streamwood excelled in the freestyle relays, placing second in the 200 freestyle relay and winning the meet-ending 400 freestyle relay.

"We did some different things, including putting (Filipek) in the 200 today," Bartlett-Streamwood coach Jeremy Meserole said. "She was the fastest she's ever been without a fast suit on. We mixed up the order on the free relays to see how the girls responded, and they responded very well."

The Sabrehawks got other strong swims from Brianna Cichon, who was fifth in the 50 freestyle and fifth in the 100 freestyle.

"I'm definitely happy with the way we swam," Meserole said. "We have homecoming tonight and I was worried whether we'd be distracted from that. Meet to meet, this is the most consistent year that we've had. That just comes from experience. The seniors came in with me at the same time and they have learned a lot from their experiences over the last four years."

West Chicago-Batavia finished ninth at St. Charles North after swimming a dual meet with the North Stars on Friday night. Kelly Sego was seventh in the 200 IM and ninth in the 100 breaststroke.

"I thought we did OK for where we're at in the season," West Chicago-Batavia coach Nick Parry said. "Everyone's tired and everyone's legs and arms are shot. It's a chance to get up and race, but we've got to put some perspective to what we're doing. I want them to know that the time's not indicative to the work they're putting in."

SCE invite: St. Charles East's college events invitational only had four teams involved this year, but there was great talent in the pool, led by meet winner New Trier. The hosts won two of the day's events and finished third.

Mary Jania won the 400 IM and was second in the 100 breaststroke while Amy Pearson won the 500 freestyle and was second in the 200 freestyle.

"They came here ready to swim today," St. Charles East assistant coach Julia Shallcross said. "There was a lot of cheering and dancing and enthusiasm, but we also got to see some fast races, which is awesome as we head into October."

The college events format features all the normal races in a high school meet in addition to a 200-yard race for each stroke and a 400 IM as well as an 800 freestyle relay.

"I'm a distance swimmer, so this is my thing," Pearson said. "I didn't get to swim the 1,000 this year, but I like the format. It really shows how deep your training goes when you can pull it out for the longer events rather than just the short sprints."

Gabbi Pompilio was second in the 200 butterfly. Pearson, Anna O'Malley, Rachel Nagler and Kayla Jones were second in the 800 freestyle relay.

"What made it good today was that we had some pretty fast swims even though we're pretty tired," Shallcross said.

Many teams do not swim a college-events format meet in their high school season, and those that do only do so once, making the meet a special moment on the calendar.

"Some of our girls are more middle-distance swimmers," Shallcross said. "The high school season's definitely a sprint-dominated season, so it was nice to see them get to race events they don't get to swim."