Bartlett-Streamwood has good day at UEC meet
They’re still incredibly tired, but the girls from the Bartlett-Streamwood girls swimming co-op had a very good day on Saturday at the Upstate Eight Conference meet hosted by St. Charles North.
The team finished fifth in the nine-team meet and the team had a string of solid performances. Leading the way was Kayla Filipek, who was second in the 100-yard freestyle and third in the 50 freestyle.
“I think I swam well, but I think there’s things I could have done better on,” Filipek said.
Like all the top swimmers in the conference, Filipek has yet to rest from heavy training, a tapering process that will hopefully bring large time drops when she and her teammates compete in the St. Charles East sectional on Nov. 16.
“I’m excited for sectionals,” Filipek said.
Filipek wasn’t the only Bartlett-Streamwood swimmer to have a strong day. Sarah Hanning was second in the 100 butterfly and sixth in the 200 IM while Drew Landrowski was fourth in the 200 IM and seventh in the 100 breaststroke.
“I thought we swam well,” Bartlett-Streamwood coach Jeremy Meserole said. “This was the first time we got to face a lot of these teams this season. It’s a little more of an upper level kind of competition and it’s nice for these girls to see that heading into sectionals.”
From enthusiasm on-deck to a boisterous atmosphere in the seating area, the Upstate Eight meet created the kind of noisy environment many midseason meets lack.
“This was the first time we’ve been a part of this atmosphere this season, with a lot of teams that are better than us. It was a good experience,” Mesetole said.
St. Charles East won the meet 288-234 over host St. Charles North. The Bartlett-Streamwood co-op scored 152 points.
“Every girl who was a part of this was a freshman or a sophomore,” Meserole said. “It bodes well for years to come, for sure. I think they all swam very well. We haven’t had to get up and swim well in a while, and I think they responded well to it.”
South Elgin finished eighth in the conference. The Storm’s top individual performance came from Rachael Hopp, who was 13th in the 100 butterfly. Rachel Degrane was 14th in the 500 freestyle and 15th in the 200 freestyle.
“The ones that have been training hard are doing extremely well with the events that they swam,” South Elgin coach Margie Ellwood said.
Elwood said the team’s 200 freestyle relay swam particularly well. Katy Balk, Caroline Riehle, Shianne Brewer and Carly McGuire finished seventh.
“Every time that group of girls gets together, they drop a little more time,” Ellwood said. “I’m excited to see what they’re going to do at sectionals.”
The Elgin-Larkin co-op finished ninth in the meet and the team’s strongest performances came from Echo Boehm, who was 12th in the 100 freestyle and 14th in the 50 freestyle.
“They did well,” Elgin-Larkin coach Nancy Kalush said. “I think we have a good starting point for two weeks for sectionals. We had some best times.”
Like Bartlett-Streamwood and South Elgin, Kalush’s team heads to St. Charles East on for its sectional meet, where it will see a number of Upstate Eight teams.
“Some girls who haven’t dropped time in a while dropped time today, which was exciting for them to see,” Kalush said. “Others stayed the same, which is OK because they’ve still got work to do.”
Kalush said Heather Aubrey and Lilly Woerner had their best times of the season in their various races.
“Conference is always a more exciting atmosphere than an invite,” Kalush said. “We have more teams and there’s more competition and it’s more exciting to have the big meets.”