Girls swimming: West Chicago's Sego aims big in senior season

As far as West Chicago senior Ashley Sego is concerned, this girls swimming and diving season is already better than last year.

Despite the continuing necessity of masks, Sego and her fellow Wildcats will be able to swim at invitationals and dual meets away from home, have relays and, perhaps most important, have spectators in the bleachers.

"It is about as normal as it can get, without the mask part," Sego said. "Last year we had to split up into groups and we weren't swimming the entire time. Now we're back to our three normal hours."

You might think that the lack of spectators wouldn't be a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but the Miami of Ohio recruit would beg to differ.

Submitted for your consideration is last fall's St. Charles North sectional meet, where Sego took third in the 200-yard individual medley (2:06.57) and second in the 100 breaststroke (1:04.69), both times that would have qualified for the state meet. That helped West Chicago finish comfortably in third place as a team with 127 points, behind powerful St. Charles North (228) and St. Charles East (204).

The flip side was the fact that Sego and her teammates had to sit in a gym until three heats before her race, and then sit again in a "bullpen" until meet officials brought them out onto the deck. There were no relay events, and the worst part, she said, was not being able to have teammates on deck to cheer her on.

Nevertheless, Sego's coach, Nick Parry, said her sectional performance was "pretty much fully expected."

"She has kind of been at this stage of her development since she was a freshman," he said. "It was great to culminate the season with that meet."

But that was then, this is now. In addition to making a return engagement at state, she said a major goal is to win the Upstate Eight for a second year in a row. She also wants to help her teammates consistently drop their times and get as many as possible to join her at state.

Parry said Sego has stepped into a larger leadership role.

"She is one of our hardest workers, she's setting a great example with the work ethic she carries," he said. "She's not the biggest rah-rah person, but she will routinely talk to kids separately."

Despite the limitations of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sego trained virtually nonstop between February and August with her club team, Academy Bullets, and swam a host of National Club Swimming Association meets in various parts of the country. That should give her a major advantage in conference duals and everything that happens afterward.

She's also got a few words of advice for youngsters coming up through the club ranks.

"Honestly, the biggest thing is to have fun," she said. "You obviously want to work hard and push your teammates, but in the end, if you're not loving the sport, you're going to have a block."