It’s been an odd season for the Fenwick girls swim and dive team.
Michael Burke replaced Sara Goggin-Young as head coach in mid-September and things might have gone awry, but they didn’t, thanks to Burke’s leadership and the focus of the teammates who helped the Friars win Saturday’s sectional championship at East Leyden with 302 points.
A key cog was senior Claire Wood, who qualified for state by taking second in the 200-yard freestyle (1:54.97) and lending a hand in two winning relays – the 200 freestyle (1:37.55) and the 400 freestyle (3:32.83).
“I think the biggest thing through everything that has happened is keeping things positive,” Wood said, adding team bonding activities like making s’mores as a group helped a lot.
Junior sprinter Maggie Raniere, who won the 50 freestyle (24.21) and 100 freestyle (53.14) Saturday, agreed.
“I think we definitely started depending on each other and we got super-close for sure,” she said. Sophomore distance swimmer Audrey Munley said strong coaching from Burke and assistant Mark Hallman were the big difference makers.
Now the Friars head to FMC Natatorium in Westmont on Friday and Saturday for the state meet. To that end, this week will require just as much focus, said sophomore Sam Stowe, who raced a leg on that 200 freestyle relay with Wood, Raniere and junior Maeve Ryan.
“We’re trying to stay positive about this meet,” she said. “It’s going to be fun. It’s a really great environment, the stands are always packed.”
Ryan added that when it comes to state, there is strength in numbers.
“We have a lot of relays going and it helps a lot because we’re all together,” she said. “It’s great to rely on ourselves and we all have our job to do.”
OPRF ‘gruntled’ over results
You’ve probably heard of the word disgruntled, but as far as OPRF coach Clyde Lundgren was concerned, he and his team were just the opposite Saturday.
“Nobody ever says gruntled, it’s an antiquated word that means happy, with a sense of satisfaction,” Lundgren said. “It’s been a funny thread throughout the season.”
Hear, hear, said senior Avaa Ruffer, who joined fellow seniors Hailey Boland, Evie Hasenbalg and junior Kylie Miller to win the 200 medley relay in 1:48.70 and advance to state in the event after just missing a year ago.
“It’s in my top 10 words in the dictionary now,” Ruffer deadpanned. “Leaving everything out in practice and our races, regardless of the times we see on the board, we want to make sure we’re gruntled at the end.”
Hasenbalg said she may have been more than just gruntled with that relay swim on Saturday.
“It’s probably the happiest I’ve been at a swim meet,” she said. “To get the state time and having won, it was just amazing.”
Boland, who won the 100 breaststroke in 1:05.79, setting a pool record, and also qualifying in the 200 individual medley by taking second in 2:08.89, said for the rest of her life she will associate that word with Lundgren.
“He always puts emphasis on being satisfied,” she said. “Do your best in this race and do something you’re going to be proud of.”
Boland knows about the pomp and circumstance — and chaos — of the state experience, having participated a year ago. That means she can be a guide for her relay teammates.
“I just want them to know we deserve to be there,” she said. “We worked so hard to be there, working so hard to make this cut. Don’t get in your head this week. Have fun with it; we made the time and it’s going to be a fun swim. You’re going to feel the pressure.”
Don’t forget senior diver Jillian Louie, who easily won the sectional title with 433.00 points.
Young Trinity makes waves
Trinity coach Mary Gibson admits she has a young team, but her crew accounted for itself well at East Leyden. Case in point were two relays.
In the meet-ending 400 freestyle relay, Trinity took eighth with a time of 5:03.34, with juniors Frida Morales, Erin Basney, Theresa Olson and senior Isabella Vargas putting in the work.
Earlier, the Blazers took ninth in the 200 freestyle relay in 2:19.04, paced by sophomore Diana Fedorovicz, freshman Sofia Vargas and seniors Sophia Gonzales and Natalie Linares.