Girls swimming: Rosary edges Loyola

By any definition, Rosary and Loyola have been at the peak of Illinois high school girls swimming in recent years, and by Tuesday's evidence, the Beads and Ramblers figure to once again be among the very best when the 2016 season comes to a close in a month's time.

Rosary is the reigning champion while Loyola finished second. Two years ago, Loyola won the state title and Rosary tied for second.

Tuesday, Rosary claimed a 94-76 victory, and the teams will meet each other twice more this season, in the Oct. 29 Metro Catholic conference meet and Nov. 18-19 in the state meet.

"There's a lot of pride and a lot of tradition," Rosary coach Bill Schalz said. "Obviously we have a lot of tradition and Loyola's getting into that upper echelon more consistently now."

The thing is, the teams aren't such bitter rivals anywhere other than in the water during meets. Athletes from both teams attended a Cubs game together this summer. The team's elite swimmers - Rosary's Alexis Yager and Loyola's Ella Tierney, are good friends.

"That makes it more fun, the fact that the girls on both teams are friends, and the coaches are too," Schalz said. "Of course, it makes winning that much more fun too. But just being with friends made it fun."

With all the talented swimmers in the water, it figures that there was going to be competitive swimming, and the teams did not disappoint.

"It pushes us to do well," Rosary junior Camryn Streid said. "I thought we did really well as a team. We've been working really hard and we're all really tired. But for being really tired, I think we did pretty well."

The meet comes at a time when all coaches are trying to figure both conference lineups and make decisions for the athletes who will compete in the IHSA sectional and state meets. Despite the Beads' overwhelming success this year, Schalz has many decisions still to make.

"This is the first time we've seen Emily Ryan swim in two weeks," Schalz said. "She's had a back injury nagging at her all season long. We have to determine how many events her back will handle. The girls think I have this lineup set in my head, and I have absolutely no idea."

Of course, the nature of Rosary's decisions involve a number of high quality high school athletes. The Beads are blessed with an abundance of talent, which was apparent Tuesday, when they managed their victory without Yager, who has been ill this week.

"I've got a lot of decisions to make, but having a lot of talent is a good problem to have," Schalz said. "I just don't know what we're going to with a lot of spots. We were in the same place last year, and we'll definitely have swim-offs at conference for state team spots."

For Rosary's swimmers, there was much to process. First there was the dual meet with Loyola, but it was also senior night, and it was the final home meet of the season.

"I think we're trying to have fun, but also get good times," Streid said. "Of course Loyola's a good team and one of our biggest rivals, so we knew we had to do well, and I think that pushed us to do really well."

Streid won the 100 butterfly and was part of two winning relays for the Beads, who also gained individual event victories from Sydney Vanovermeiren in the 200 IM, Kathryn Mueller in the 50 freestyle and Sammie Laurich in the 100 breaststroke.

The Beads took time to honor their seniors after the 50 freestyle, with the honorees walking between a double row of their teammates, who made a tunnel while holding foam flotation devices.

"It was really fun when I was a freshman, seeing everything for the first time," senior Talia Carello said. "I thought 'wow, that's going to be me sometime.' I was sitting outside today while they were doing the decorations and I was thinking 'this doesn't feel right.' I walked inside and I was blown away."

Rosary's regular season is still not complete. The Beads swim in an invitational at Deerfield on Saturday.

"That meet allows three entries per event, and we'll move some people around and make some decisions there too," Schalz said.