Paige Wells already accomplished something no other Warren swimmer has. The sophomore now looks to help her team do something it has never done: place one of its relays in the top 10 at state.
Last year, Wells was the first freshman in Warren history to qualify for the state meet in four events. She was on track to make the finals in the 50-yard freestyle until an errant turn did her in.
“I didn’t realize how close I was on time,” she said. “I got really nervous and did have a really tight turn.”
With so little margin for error in the short race, the turn pushed her to 40th place.
The team used last year’s meet as a learning experience, according to coach Chad Rusk. All but one of the swimmers who qualified for state is back.
“Everyone was able to go in and relax,” he said. “Our focus was on, what are you guys going to do when we get down here next time? If we can get down there and treat it like a sectional meet, unlike a big, bad, scary meet, which it is, we have a shot.”
The Blue Devils also have seen more time in the weight room pay off in the pool.
“We have been working heavier and adding on weights to make us stronger,” Wells said. “I think it has paid off. In practice, all of our intervals have been faster than last year.”
Wells is putting up times that would have put her on the verge of qualifying for the finals in the 50 freestyle last year. She began the season with a 24.6-second performance, and finished fourth in the Lake County Invite on Saturday with a time of 24.94 seconds.
Warren was fourth as a team in the event behind Lake Forest, Barrington and Stevenson, all of which should be among the contenders to make the top 10 at state. The Blue Devils’ performance, including a 100 butterfly win from Jessie Grasty, sets them up as potential spoilers.
“In that Lake County Invite, the girls are getting used to teams in the top 15,” Rusk said. “When they see that is what it is normally like, they won’t be so shocked when they get to state.
“They get to see that a lot of those people are human.”
If a Warren swimmer makes a state final, it will be the first time a Blue Devil has finished in the top 12 since 1995, when Carolyn Grevers medaled in the 100 breaststroke and the 50 freestyle.
Competition at the top:
The Crete-Monee boys golf team centered around Miles Bailey the last two seasons. Since Bailey stepped onto the course as a freshman, he led the Warriors in almost every match the team played.
That has changed. The junior now is joined consistently at the top by senior Mike Wojtanowski. The emergence of Wojtanowski has helped make Crete-Monee a contender to advance out of next week’s Class 3A Mount Carmel regional.
The improvement came over the summer when Wojtanowski, a pitcher and third baseman on the Crete-Monee baseball team, spent more time golfing than on the diamond.
“I really tried to change my swing,” he said. “I did golf a lot over the summer and would throw down four or five balls and just practice.”
Wojtanowski dropped his scores from the mid-40s to the upper-30s for nine holes.
“Last year he had low scores,” coach Adam Hullinger said. “This year, he is consistently low.”
Wojtanowski earned the top score for the Warriors four times this season, including most recently tying Bailey with an even-par 36 in a dual win over Rich Central.
Bailey has relished having some competition.
“You always have Mike there to push me as my right-hand man,” Bailey said.
Seedings on Redwings’ minds:
Girls tennis sectionals are still two weeks away, but Benet’s focus has been on that tournament since the beginning of the season. The Redwings want to ensure their girls receive the best possible seedings at the Naperville North Sectional, coach Bob Comerford said.
“At Naperville North, there are five excellent singles players. One of them isn’t going to make it,” he said. “If Emily Meyers at Neuqua Valley had decided to play, someone else wouldn’t be going.”
Arranging his team for the best shot at making state has been one of Comerford’s focuses since the time he was the coach at Hinsdale South. During one of his seasons there, the four qualifiers from his sectional finished as the top four at state.
The focus on sectional seeding, which takes place on Oct. 12, three days before the sectional, has led Comerford to play with his lineups this season.
He tries to protect early-season wins over sectional opponents from being diluted by losses later on.
At the St. Charles East Invitational, Benet switched partners on every doubles team. Their top two singles players were paired at second doubles, in part to cover a stomach muscle injury suffered by first singles player Cassie Kovach.
“Cassie strained her stomach muscle and couldn’t serve an entire singles match,” Comerford said. “We paired her with Leah (Tzakis) to protect her side until she had a chance to heal.”
The move frustrated some opposing coaches who had hoped their players could earn back a win against the Redwings, according to Comerford. Benet still tied for the top score at the tournament, and Kovach and Tzakis won the second doubles title.
Tzakis has also seen some time at first singles this season. She and Kovach worked together to determine during which matches Tzakis, ranked 13th in the sophomore class in Illinois by the Tennis Recruiting Network, would move up on the depth chart.
“She would be a first singles player at any other school,” Comerford said. “She and Cassie sat down and decided how to split it up.”
Since the St. Charles East Invitational, Benet has gone back to its standard lineup, and the focus has moved back to the team and winning conference.
“The expectation at Benet is that it is a team thing,” Comerford said. “There are girls who might be at that sectional and state level next year even if they aren’t this year. It doesn’t end for them when the conference is over.”
