Rosary claims sectional crown
Emily Sejna of Naperville Central has always been all about the team, but Saturday the Redhawks senior had her chance to shine as an individual as well.
Sejna qualified for next weekend's state meet by capturing the Neuqua Valley sectional championship in the 100 freestyle in 52.84.
“Emily had a great race,” said Naperville Central coach Sue Welker. “She was cool, calm and confident and really turned in a great performance.”
“When I saw my time in the 100 free I was even impressed that I could swim that fast,” said Sejna, who will be play water polo at Michigan next year.
But even in the glow of her individual triumph, Sejna was eager to talk about the performance of the Redhawks' winning 200 free relay team that finished in 1:37.34. Her teammates on the relay were Maria Villa, Lauren Gunn and Erin Stevens.
“My fastest splits are always in the relays,” said Sejna, who anchored the winning relay. “I'm more of a team-oriented person. I love the relays. I know when my teammates swim fast, I have to go out there and do the same. I just get pumped up for the relays.“
Welker has absolute faith in Sejna as her anchorman.
“She's not only a great swimmer,” Welker said. “She's the team cheerleader and a great role model. She just puts it out there.”
“I've got to be honest, I hate to lose,” Sejna said. “I think coach just sees the fire in me and that I like to help the team win.”
Rosary won the sectional championship with 253 points, and host Neuqua Valley was runner-up with 215. Naperville Central was third with 204, followed by Naperville North with 188, Oswego East with 149, Waubonsie Valley with 123, West Chicago with 83 and Metea Valley with 69.
Gia Dalesandro led the second-place Wildcats with a win in the 100 butterfly, as Neuqua qualified two swimmers in seven individual races and all three relays.
“The sectional was tough and I'm proud of how we swam,” said Neuqua Valley coach Brandon King, “but state is our meet.”
Nelly Casas of Oswego East was the only swimmer to win two races as she took the championship in both the 200 and the 500 freestyle.
Madeline Hunt of Waubonsie Valley won the 50 freestyle, Sarah Sykstus of Rosary touched first in the 200 IM, Megan Sellers of Metea Valley won the 100 breaststroke and Taylor Eggenberger of Waubonsie Valley was the diving champion.
Maya Skorupski of West Chicago won the 100 backstroke with a time of 56.37.
“I did much better than I thought I would do,” Skorupski said. “I tried a couple of new things. I cut down the number of strokes in my first 25 and I worked on my kicks. I think these adjustments benefited me. I'm excited to see what I can do at state next week.”
Oswego East won the 200 medley relay and Rosary was the winner of the 400 freestyle relay.
Rachel Burke, Emily Launer, Erin Hart and Molly Coonce made up the Beads' 400 freestyle relay team.
“This meet is all about getting kids to state and I think we accomplished what we wanted to today,” said Rosary coach Bill Schalz. “Sarah Sykstus won her race, all three relays qualified and we got a number of good swims and had at least one individual through in every race, and our diver Grace Miller qualified.”
Naperville North and Naperville Central also qualified all three relays.