St. Charles East stands tall

For Juliet Suess and St. Charles East's senior girls swimmers, Saturday's girls swim sectional gave the Saints a chance to do something they'd never done before - celebrate at the end of the meet.

"It's amazing," Suess said. "We're so happy to finally win. I'm really glad, as a senior, to bring it home and to win it all."

The host Saints scored 273.5 and defeated city rival St. Charles North, which scored 257.5. Many people like to downplay the emotion of winning sectional team titles because they don't help any athletes get to the state meet - an exercise which is done race-by-race. But to downplay the award is also to diminish the accomplishments of St. Charles East's team - and the Saints were plenty happy with to hold that plaque.

"It means more than I think that people think about it," Suess said. "It's just a confidence booster going to state to have that win behind us."

Suess had an exceptional meet, starting with her anchor leg in the 200-yard medley relay. She then won the 50 freestyle, qualified in the 100 freestyle and finished with a solid swim in the 200 freestyle relay. A senior, Suess will have four swims next weekend at the state meet at New Trier.

"I am ecstatically happy," Suess said. "Not only for me, but for everyone who's going. I'm really excited."

Where St. Charles East only had two qualifiers in 2008, they have 12 entries in this year's meet. In addition to all three relays, the Saints had event winners in Emma Smith (200 freestyle, 500 freestyle) and Kayla Scott (100 breaststroke.)

"It's a nice blend," St. Charles East coach Joe Cabel said. "We've got the seniors, but we also have the sophomores, juniors and freshmen. They struggled a little bit today with some technical things. But they'll be OK with that after we get it cleaned up for next week."

St. Charles North had a solid day itself. The North Stars also qualified all three relays and had event winners in diver Amanda Beard and Lauren Reynolds in the 100 backstroke.

"Us and East have had our competitions back and forth," St. Charles North senior Jessica England said. "A lot of us still qualified and we're really, really happy with how we did today. Everyone was getting best-times."

England qualified in the 200 freestyle, the 500 freestyle and on 400 freestyle relay and was the sort of on-deck presence North Stars coach Rob Rooney praised.

"Senior has a lot to do with things," Rooney said. "The season's a roller-coaster ride. And England did a phenomenal job getting on some things today. The 200 free, getting on it and the 500 free, getting on it. She raced with her heart today."

And the North Stars feel they have plenty of quality performances still to come at the state meet.

"Our goal today was to qualify," England said. "If we won, that would have been a bonus. But none of us are completely tapered. When we're fully-rested, even more is going to happen."

The North Stars competed without senior Angie Chokran, who is in Europe competing in an international meet with a U.S. team.

"My focus is on the girls who were here today," Rooney said. "We'll have (Chokran) back for the state meet for relay."

Swim teams are allowed to make alterations to qualified relays, meaning Chokran can be inserted in any or all of those three events for the state meet.

"Our relays today responded well," Rooney said. "They did a great job. They stood up and swam well. East had a phenomenal meet and (Cabel) should be proud of his girls and his team should be proud of themselves."

Rylee Merges became Geneva's first girls state meet qualifier in the most emphatic fashion - she won the 200-yard individual medley. Merges doubled the Vikings representation at the state meet when she later qualified in the 50 freestyle.

"It's kind of a big deal," Merges said. "I wanted to make it. I wanted to make it because I'm not tapered or rested for this."

Merges led the individual medley practically from start to finish.

"The 200 IM, I was really happy with," Merges said. "I didn't expect to swim that fast. My best time was 2:09, and I swam better that by 2 seconds. In the 50 free, I added some time, but I was still surprised I got the cut. It was pretty close."

Geneva had 20 swimmers on-deck on Saturday and competed in every event. That number was a huge improvement over the 9 athletes the Vikings had on-deck a year ago.

"It's been fun," Merges said. "It's great that we have a lot of kids here. It's something different for Geneva. Nobody knows we have a swim team. Now on Monday, everyone's going to know what we've done."

Merges said she will be familiar with many of her competitors at the state meet.

"I think it's going to be exciting," Merges said. "I know a lot of kids who are going to be there. I'll be swimming against a lot of my (Academy Bullets) teammates."