St. Charles swimmers come together at Pink Out

On Thursday night, St. Charles North's girls swim team's colors were blue, black and pink. Visiting St. Charles East's colors were orange, black and pink. But really, pink was the color to wear. Coaches wore it, parents wore it. Everyone's caps were that color.

The reason for the Pink Out was a fundraiser for the For Scout Foundation, which was set up following the Oct. 29, 2014 passing of Madison Scout Cantrell, a 9-year-old St. Charles resident who loved many things, including swimming for the St. Charles Swim Club. Her older sister Kate is a freshman on the St. Charles North team.

"I am happy we have a community that creates events like this to support," St. Charles North coach Rob Rooney said. "I grew up in this community. My daughter's at East. I do not like the way the rivalry goes between the two schools. It was neat to see what the two schools did tonight."

Pink can be a strong color too - the swim teams combined to raise $6,640 for the For Scout Foundation, and presented a check to the family following the meet.

"It's close to all our girls' hearts," St. Charles East coach Joe Cabel said. "They knew Scout and Katie from the club season. It's a difficult thing for all of us to grasp. But we came here to celebrate life, and raising over $6,600, that's a pretty good celebration."

While they compete for different teams during the high school season, St. Charles' swimmers merge as one during the club season, and that unity was present on-deck and in the stands as well. It also manifested following the meet when swimmers and coaches from both teams posed for a photo - everyone wearing the pink T-shirts that were on everyone's backs on Thursday.

"What this meet came down to wasn't points and not who won or lost," St. Charles East senior Isabel Herb said. "As a team, we came together and supported our community. It was amazing to have the whole stands in pink. It was for Scout. Supporting our community is really important."

The Cantrells received the check and thanked everyone for their support in a moving post-meet scene.

"Knowing Katie, it's special that we can support her, her family and their organization. It's a great thing," St. Charles North senior Monica Guyett said.

In the meet itself, St. Charles North swam to a 101-85 victory.

"We did average," Rooney said. "I think our freshmen got caught up in this meet. The veterans were a little more even-keeled and handled it very well."

The season is nearing its midpoint, and October is always a crucial month. All the key invitationals take place in this month and athletes reach the most grueling portion of their training before the postseason begins Oct. 31.

"I'm liking how we're gelling as a team," Rooney said. "This graduating class has kind of rejuvenated this program. I'm excited for our freshmen, being around this talented a group of kids."

Monica Guyett won the 200 freestyle and the 500 freestyle in her final East-North dual meet.

"It's always a fun meet, swimming against East," she said. "We know all their girls and we're swimming against friends. Getting to race against them is a fun competition."

Audrey Guyett won the 200 IM and the 100 backstroke and Samantha Sauer won the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle races. Katie Schutz claimed the diving competition while the North Stars won 200 freestyle relay.

St. Charles East opened with the meet with a win in the 200 medley relay and earned victory in the 100 butterfly through Herb.

"That was a tough loss," Cabel said. "We battled well with them, but they're just stronger across the board and they looked good tonight. We were off a bit in the beginning and got going at the end. We need to be ready in the front of the meet so far."

The Saints ended the meet well, with a win by Kayla Jones in the 100 breaststroke and a win in the 400 freestyle relay.

"We're halfway through the season and we have 300,000 (training yards) under our belt so far," Cabel said. "We're right on track. We might be a little tired."

Herb was a two-event state qualifier as a junior and finished third in the 50 freestyle on Thursday as well.

"As a team, we really fought for it," Herb said. "We had the fight of our lives. We knew that North was going to be a hard team going into the meet, and I think our girls did amazing. I'm really happy with how we did, especially with our spirit."