Myhre, St. Charles North off to fast start
It all came into focus for St. Charles North.
After the preliminaries of the boys swimming and diving state meet at New Trier on Friday, coach Rob Rooney was reflecting on how much had gone well for his team - and particularly junior Joe Myhre.
Among the many highlights left for the North Stars in Saturday finals session, which begins at noon, is seeing how things will pan out for the top qualifier in the 50-yard freestyle.
Myhre was the fastest man in Illinois on Friday, winning his heat in 20.55.
"We're just excited to be swimming on Saturday," said Rooney. "At the start of the season, we try to picture how things could end up at this time of year - and then you take all the steps you need to in order to actually create that picture. To see our guys do that is very rewarding."
Myhre also earned a spot in the championship heat of the 100 free, qualifying fifth-fastest in 45.80.
St. Charles North will also have both freestyle relays racing, including the 200 free relay in the championship finals. That quarter qualified fourth in 1:24.61; the 400 qualified eighth in 3:08.87.
"We came in here today with the idea of having fun and really enjoying the day," said Myhre. "We've got a great group of guys, and the idea was to just to stay calm and go out and race - not get too worked up over anything.
"I think it worked out great so far."
The same could not be said for St. Charles East, which had plenty of participants but won't be taking part in Saturday's festivities.
Coach Joe Cabel suggested the young make-up of his team helped explain some of the disappointment.
"Growing pains," he said. "We had a very nice performance at the sectional, but we might have put a little too much emphasis on that meet, as opposed to state. That's part of it with a young team - you learn as you go."
The Saints were hardly alone in seeing their times not quite measure up to sectional efforts. Tougher state qualifying standards mean an ever-higher percentage of athletes are taking their full taper at the sectional just in order to get into the state meet.
"You want to come into the state meet fully loaded for bear," Cabel said. "The thing is, the way the meet is running the last couple years, you don't have to improve much from your sectional time in order to have a chance to place. But you do have to be able to hold steady."
Marmion will have a pair of competitors scoring points individually this year.
Senior Andrew Kasper will race in the consolation heat of the 200 free after qualifying ninth in 1:42.27, and freshman Will Kamps made it as the 10th qualifier in the 500 free (4:38.18).
"This meet is sure unlike any other meet I've been to," said Kamps. "It's crowded, it's hot, it's hard to get around on deck - and it's loud. I was just a little bit off in my 200 IM earlier, but the 500 turned out pretty well."
Indeed, as Kamps clipped another three seconds off his personal-best effort. Maybe part of the credit for that should go to his elder teammate Kasper, who helped set a calming tone.
"I just pulled all our guys together and said, 'Do not be intimidated by all of this, let's just go out and do our thing' " Kasper said. "I think everybody did great for us today, and I'm really proud of the way all our guys represented the team."