Naperville Central starting to think big
The Naperville Central swimming and diving team is by its own evaluation a team with no superstars, just a solid, deep bunch of good athletes who work hard and function well as a team.
But as the season goes on the Redhawks are starting to believe they can make some noise in the postseason.
"We think we can do well in conference and at sectionals," coach Sue Welker said. "And we believe we can score some points at state."
Sophomore Julia Roller, who qualified for state but didn't score last year, is developing into a future star, and Welker believes she can finish top-12 this time around.
Roller is planning to swim the 100-yard butterfly and the 500 freestyle at state.
"Julia could qualify in almost any race," Welker said. "But we believe this is the best combination for her, even though it will be difficult because there's only one event between those races. She's really working this year on refining her stroke and she should be a strong contender at the end of the year."
Lauren Scotti in the 100 backstroke, Emily Sejna in the 50 freestyle, diver Molly Schatz and the freestyle relay teams are others who have ability to come back Saturday.
The 400 freestyle relay team that features Roller, Sejna, Lauren Gunn and Eshan Pau has been closing in on state-qualification times.
Moving on up: One of the goals of most high school swimmers is to be moved to the fastest lane where they're practicing with the top swimmers on the team.
Wheaton co-op senior Paige Strohshine and junior Sarah Kramer recently earned promotion to the fastest lane because of how much they've improved this year.
Strohshine, who moved in from Indiana, is strong in the 100 backstroke, while Kramer, who was a touted age-group swimmer who has been hampered by injury and illness for two years, is becoming known for her versatility.
"They're both swimming as fast as our top girls," said Wheaton co-op coach Jacob Ayers. "And everyone is training hard together."
Ayers believes the promotion will encourage both girls to see themselves at a different level.
"They both have the maturity to make that move," Ayers said. "Both girls have qualifying for state as one of their goals this year. And I would say they have an outside shot. At the very least they're giving us more depth and more options for our relays and individual events in sectionals."
Surprise, surprise: Maya Skorupski has been one of the more pleasant surprises for the West Chicago swimming team.
The West Chicago sophomore was 0.03 off the state cut in her last 100 backstroke race and she expects to make it to state and to finish in the top 12.
"We thought she would be pretty good this year," said Wildcats coach Nick Parry. "She had a good season last year. But we didn't see her as someone who would make the state cuts before sectional. She can make it at any time now. She gets faster and faster every race. She's disappointed now when she doesn't go under a minute in the backstroke."
Skorupski also leads off the medley relay, which Parry believes has a good chance to make it to state.
Parry attributes Skorupski's improvement to her outstanding work ethic.
"During the winter I noticed that Maya was putting it all together," Parry said. "She realized the commitment you have to make in order to get it to the next level. A light went on for her and it's really making a difference in her performance."
Parry believes Skorupski is a little ahead of where Wildcats senior Kelly Dunn was in the backstroke as a sophomore, and Dunn finished 10th at state that year.