Girls swimming: Rosary repeats state championship in fast meet over New Trier, St. Charles North

Not a bad few days for Rosary senior swimmer Becky Rentz.

Earlier this week she signed to swim at Notre Dame and this weekend she showed the Fighting Irish what kind of athlete they are getting.

Rentz helped the Rosary Beads capture a second straight state title by winning the 200 free and 100 free individual races and swimming on Rosary’s championship 200 free relay squad that set a new state record with a time of 1:31.69. She also helped the Beads to a blazing time of 3:20.25 in the 400 free relay, second to St. Charles North, which set a state record with a 3:19.43 time.

Rosary needed every high finish it could muster Saturday in Westmont to compile a winning total of 290 points to hold off New Trier (272) and St. Charles North (251) in one of the fastest state meets ever.

“We knew it was going to be a super tough battle but we’ve been working hard all season. I’m just proud of everybody. I was really happy with how I swam today. I had all best times,” said Rentz, who won the 200 free in 1:45.73 and followed that up with a 48.69 to win the 100 free. “There’s so much talent here. There always is at this meet. We knew it was going to be a really tough battle.”

Rentz joined freshman Paige Kowal, Olivia Moore and Ariyanna Nieckula to set a new Illinois mark in the 200 free relay, a race that saw St. Charles North take third and Neuqua Valley fifth.

“I feel like everybody really stepped out and gave it their all and we accomplished what we came here to do,” said Rentz, who helped the Beads win state last year with titles in the 100 butterfly and the 200 free. “It’s a big week for me. I’m super excited for the future.

“It’s been a really great experience. Obviously we’re a private school and little smaller but the environment is so supportive. It always has been. I really love my team. I love my school.”

In the meet’s final race, the Beads’ quartet of Rentz, Kowal, Nieckula and sophomore Annabelle Nawrocki did their part with a fast clocking of 3:20.25, but they just couldn’t quite match the Stars’ Avery Luedke, Tessalina Stavropoulos, Kate Farrell and Isabelle Beu, who followed up their state record time in the prelims with another new mark on Saturday.

Rosary coach Glenn Brown could not have asked for a better effort from his swimmers who claimed the school’s ninth championship.

“They earned it. They absolutely earned it,” Brown said. “We knew all year it was going to be a three-team battle with St. Charles North and New Trier. We did what we had to do. Our seniors performed as we expected they were going to. Annabelle Nawrocki was unbelievable this weekend. Ariyana [Nieckula] was unbelievable this weekend. On the side of our shirt, we have FTT. For The Team. That’s been my crying call all season. FTT. I have nothing bad to say about them. They were amazing. They surprise me every year at this meet.”

For the North Stars, this weekend closed out a great season for a great team. In another year or in another state, their performances most likely would have delivered more than a third-place trophy.

“I’m going be honest with you. There are three of the top 10 teams in the country right there,” St. Charles North coach Rob Rooney said. “You can’t control what anyone else does. There is no defense in swimming. A state record --- that’s very hard to do. Then you have three individual state champions, and that’s not easy to do. They’re going to look back at it one day and say, wow, we were really good. I’m very proud of them. How they act, how they’re a team. There’s no, wish we could have. This is what we did.”

Luedke did plenty. Not only did she cap off her day with the record-setting 400 free relay crown, but she won the 500 free (4:48.42), was second to Rentz in the 200 free, and swam on the third-place 200 free relay.

“My goal was just to win, to get my hand on the wall first. The time doesn’t really matter here, it’s just the place. But It’s my best time so I’m happy,” said Luedke, a senior who moved to St. Charles North this year after three years in Minnesota.

After claiming four medals at her first IHSA finals, she had this to say about the meet, “The energy was high. It was pretty cool.”

Beu also came up big for the Stars, winning the 100 fly (53.22) and the 200 IM in 1:58.24 and earning a pair of relay medals.

Benet Academy’s Lucy Rooney was seventh in the 200 free (1:51.42) and ninth in the 100 back (56.18). After playing volleyball for two years she switched to swimming last season and qualified for state in a couple relays, but this weekend she claimed a couple individual medals.

Neuqua Valley’s fifth-place 200 free relay unit consisted of seniors Sophia Labarre and Crystal Yu, and sophomore twin sisters Sofia Piater and Carolina Piarter.

“Our goal really was just to place as high as we could,” said Yu. “We went into prelims knowing that we could score a lot of points during this really. We just got really excited because we have two seniors and knew it was our last relay together with some of these underclassemen. We just wanted to end it with a bang and kind of see what we could do; just have a lot of fun and swim super fast.”

Naperville North’s Tasha Mantel took seventh in the 100 breast to earn all-state honors, as did Naperville Central’s Lauren Eschmeyer in the 100 fly.

In diving, Oswego East’s Katie Malm won with a score of 492 points while Waubonsie Valley’s Lucia Caruso and Ella Buchenauer went 8-9, respectively.