St. Charles East, Rosary aim for Top 10 at state
A year ago, Illinois high school girls swimming had a true star in the water in Glenbrook South’s Olivia Smoliga, currently a freshman at Georgia.
While that individual star power may not be in the water this year, there are an abundance of excellent swimmers who look likely to combine for one of the fastest state meets ever — which is saying something given the incredible speed shown in recent years by the state’s best.
At the epicenter of this potential speedfest are a number of local athletes. St. Charles East, Rosary and St. Charles each have reasons to be excited about the swimming portion of the meet, hosted this weekend by New Trier. And not only do both St. Charles schools have divers in action in Friday’s prelims, but Geneva and West Aurora qualified divers as well.
“It’s a talented group,” St. Charles East coach Joe Cabel said. “It’s one of the best in the country.”
Pre-meet seedings count for only as much as anyone wants to put into them. Points aren’t even scored on Friday, though the key to the meet is which team qualifies its swimmers and divers in the best position for Saturday’s finals. As any coach in contention for a top finish has said over the years, the meet is won on Friday.
But based on last week’s sectional performances, Downers Grove North — led by twin seniors Maddy and Gabby Sims is in pole position to claim its first state title with Fenwick and Lake Forest set to finish in the other trophy positions. St. Charles East is seeded seventh while Rosary is seeded 12th.
“This is going to be a fast meet,” Rosary coach Bill Schalz said. “You can get fifth or you can get 30th and feel you’ve still been fast in the water. You have to step up and race. There are not only great swimmers in Illinois right now, but there are great young swimmers. There’s (Daria) Pyshnenko from Lake Forest and some good swimmers from downstate too. We may not have the ‘Smoliga Factor’ but there’s Mimi Schneider and Paulina Kaminski from Fenwick, who are very fast.”
The format of Illinois’ meet at one point forces swimmers to be fast and limits the number of swimmers who can score at the meet. Only the top six are able to win the state title on Saturday while the second group of six swimmers can finish no better than seventh. For this reason, the vast majority of state records set over the years have fallen on Friday.
“It’s a weird format, with prelims one day and finals the next,” Schalz said. “It’s a totally different ballgame and it’s different from what kids see — especially freshmen.”
But in that environment — with an overcrowded pool deck and full bleacher seating increasing both the heat and the noise, magical things have always happened at Illinois state swim meets. Team by team, here is how the area’s best head to Winnetka this weekend.
St. Charles East is in the midst of a charmed postseason. The Saints won the Upstate Eight Conference title, then lifted the St. Charles East sectional plaque and qualified athletes in every event. Cabel said he looked less at the team’s pre-meet seeding than he did at how he was preparing his swimmers to compete.
“We’re in the meet and that’s the most important thing,” Cabel said. “We have most of our taper to go. We couldn’t look past the sectional this past weekend but our focus has been on this weekend coming up. We missed a couple of kids qualifying and we’ll miss them.”
Cabel reiterated what he has said all season — that is goal is for the Saints to finish in the state’s top 10. In addition to the aforementioned top three teams, Loyola, Fenwick and Stevenson are seeded ahead of the Saints.
“We knew we weren’t going to feel great last Saturday,” Cabel said. “They had to understand where they were in their taper. It’s not a great feeling to swim in mid-taper, but you have to swim tough and it’s more about how you handle the situation.”
Cabel said his team had its final morning practice on Monday this week.
“We held it off,” he said. “We went with morning practices all last week and we’ve been doing some grueling dry land work. They said their legs felt like they were made of stone on Saturday. They’ll be rested and get their compression suits on this weekend and we’ll try to light it up.”
In terms of seedings, the Saints’ Stephanie Garvin carries top spot. She had the fastest sectional time in the state in the 200-yard freestyle and she was fifth-fastest in the 500 freestyle.
“She’s been around and had her ups and downs and she deserves everything she gets,” Cabel said. “She’s a classy person who brings everybody up and has a good time. She’ll be an easy leader for us and she’ll be easy to follow through the meet.”
The Saints’ top returning scorer from last year is Shea Hoyt, and the senior is seeded third-fastest in the 100 breaststroke, the event in which she finished seventh in 2012.
St. Charles East’s other returning scorer is senior Izzie Bindseil, who is seeded ninth in the 500 freestyle and has capability of moving up in the 200 freestyle.
“She’s gotten faster all season,” Cabel said. “She knows that the reward’s coming. I think she’s definitely laying in the woods. She’s put in 50 weeks to get here and she’s licking her chops and can’t wait to do the things that happen this weekend — finish her career as a Saint and then go to college.”
The key to any team’s performance is always its relays, as relays score double points compared to individual races. The Saints’ 200 medley relay is seeded seventh, its 200 freestyle relay is seeded eighth and the 400 freestyle relay is seeded 17th. Upward mobility in any or all of those relays could propel the Saints toward the top five places.
“We try to keep it in perspective,” Cabel said. “There have been hurricanes and tornadoes and there was a snowstorm in November. We’re blessed to be able to do what we can do — and a lot of people aren’t able to do that. It’s our God-given talent to be able to do this, to race, and there’s nothing I enjoy more than racing. I think it’s a fun thing. But I think there’s more in the tank for us.”
Rosary came from the fastest sectional in the state and qualified 13 individuals as well as two of its relays.
“We’re pretty excited to be able to get two of the three relays qualified without having to suit up,” Schalz said. “For the most part, to be able to go through that sectional and to get through and to not have to suit the girls into their fast suits, we’re excited. I can’t wait until next week and the state meet.”
While the Beads struggled in 2012 and finished 34th — they qualified a large number of swimmers — swimmers who return this year with the experience of what competition in the state meet is all about.
“I don’t think that’s overrated at all,” Schalz said. “You’d certainly rather have that experience than not have it. The big challenge for me is to have kids go from being seeded 37th to 3rd, and that’s the biggest challenge for kids who have not scored before. We have two kids who scored last year and kids who were close. We are — across the board — better than we were a year ago.”
Erin Hart is one of Rosary’s scorers from a year ago, and she is a junior is seeded 12th in the 50 freestyle.
“She had a good day on Saturday,” Schalz said. “She’s in a good spot. The interesting thing for (Hart) is that she had major shoulder surgery in February and to be back picking up where she left off is extremely comforting. She’s where you want her to be.”
Annie Gosselin is the Beads’ other returning scorer from 2012, and her best seeding is 16th in the 100 backstroke — an event in which she finished ninth as a freshman.
This year, the Beads have a potential impact freshman in Alexis Yager, who is seeded eighth in the 200 IM.
“She’s one of those kids who’s just a great swimmer at the end of the year,” Schalz said. “Through her club experience, she’s been a great swimmer, and I’m excited to see her get in the water and race.”
St. Charles North’s team has six individual entries and all three relays qualified for a team that has grown throughout the regular season and especially in the postseason.
“This has been a fantastic year from where we were last year,” St. Charles North coach Rob Rooney said. “Honestly, I think we’ve got a lot of fast swimming in front of us.”
Rooney said his team has focused on having fun throughout the season and with a mostly youthful group headed to the state meet, he wants to see that trend continue.
Leading the way for the North Stars is sophomore Monica Guyett, who finished 12th in the 500 freestyle last year but is seeded 13th in the 200 freestyle and eighth in the 500 freestyle this year.
“We’re sending six sophomores to battle this weekend and it reminds me of how it was when we started out at St. Charles North,” Rooney said. “The girls love each other and they love competing. We’ve got a tight group of girls who are extremely team-oriented.”
Samantha Sauer is seeded 13th in the 100 backstroke for the North Stars, who also have senior Abby Ponte seeded 14th in diving.
“We have great leadership from Hannah Zimmer and I think we’re in good shape to go in there and swim,” Rooney said. “It’s great to see the growth we’ve had with our sophomores from where they were at the start of the season.”
Rooney said he’s more concerned with watching his team’s progression than worrying over its overall placement in the team standings.
“We could be a top 10 team or we could be a top 20 team,” he said. “We could break four team records and not score a point. We’ll see what we can do and we know we can’t control anyone else. I’m excited to see them swim fast and they will.”
West Aurora is represented by diver Shannon Sullivan and Geneva has a diver qualified in Natalie Williams.