Boys Swimming 11th at Evanston Invitational

By Paul Harris-Hertel

Evanston Township High School Senior Ben Terry swims the backstroke leg of the 200-yard individual medley.
Photo by Paul Harris-Hertel.

One might think a coach would be disappointed if his team finished in the bottom half of a meet, especially if that meet was at home.

But ETHS boys swimming coach Kevin Auger was satisfied with his team's performance at the 42nd annual Evanston Invitational this past Saturday. The Kits gained 2,512 points and placed 11th out of 17 teams, following two weeks of strenuous workouts over winter break.

"Absolutely,” Auger responded when asked if the workouts tired some of his swimmers. "But we come into this meet hoping to match our times from before the meet. We averaged 0.5 seconds per 100 yards under where we were before the meet.”

Senior Tommy Grossinger's time of 1:03.09 in the 100 breaststroke was good for seventh, the best finish of any Evanston swimmer. Fellow senior Ben Terry swam the 200 individual medley in 2:02.98, good for eighth place, and junior Ben McBratney earned 12th in the 100 freestyle with a time of 51.15 seconds.

In addition, the 200 medley relay team of Jack Killheffer, Grossinger, Terry and McBratney placed 10th with a time of 1:43.37.

The Wildkit divers also helped out, as senior Chris Miller scored 170.55 points and finished in seventh place. Senior diver Nick Rolfes added 149.35 points and got 13th place.

The method of scoring at the invitational is different from that of dual meets or the state competition. Rather than points being awarded based on what place a swimmer gets, the top times get the largest amount of points. Scores are adjusted for race length and for each stroke so times from all the races can be compared, meaning a second-place finisher in one race could bring his team more points than the winner in another.

As Auger put it, "the faster you go, the more points you score, regardless of the race.”

Also, unlike at the state meet, where only the top 12 finishers score points for their team, every participant scores, regardless of where he finishes.

Despite the differences in scoring format, Auger believes the results of the invitational show where the Kits could finish at the state meet.

"The top teams in the state are here,” Auger said of a meet featuring New Trier, Glenbrook South, Neuqua Valley, Naperville North, and Loyola. "In terms of the quality of the meet, it's very close to state. It's also the biggest [gathering of] teams before the state meet.”

New Trier led the team standings for most of the day and won the invitational, racking up 3,279 points.

The Wildkits continue their season on Friday at 5:30 p.m., when they host Maine South. Then on Saturday, the Kits go to New Trier for the Trevian Relays, which begin at 1:30 p.m.

McGAW Y Swimmers Shine in Quad Meets

Thirty swimmers from the McGaw Y Swim Team (MYST) competed against 13 other teams in the Windy City Speedo Invitational Meet this past weekend. In addition, MYST swimmer Wesley Marberry competed for Team Illinois against the best swimmers from Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio at the Midstates Quad also this past weekend. Marberry finished in the top five of his four individual events. His breaststroke times are new MYST team records.

First place finishes in the Windy City meet included the following:
• Paige Haden, 8, girls 8 & under 25 free, 16.96; 100 IM, 1:38.14.
• 8 & under girls team of Haden, Honore Collins, Emily Mohrenhweiser, and Sheridan Cleave free relay, 1:08.40; and medley relay, 1:17.09.
• Jack Anderson, 12, boys 12-year old 50 fly, 31.69.
• Maddy Urban, 14, 14 & under girls 50 free, 25.88; 100 free, 56.38; and 200 free, 2:04.07 (new MYST team record).
• Sharon Wu, 11, placed 5th in the 50 back with a time of 31.37 and 3rd in the 100 back with a time of 1:06.37.

Other new MYST team records included: Wu, 400 IM and 100 back; Collins, 100 fly, 50 back, 100 back, 50 breast, and 100 breast; Millie Rosen, 9, 100 breast; and Sarah Thompson, 13, 1000 free.

Girls Basketball Starts '07 With Win

By Paul Harris-Hertel

It took a while, but the ETHS girls basketball team shook off the rust accumulated after six days without a game in a 49-18 home win over Lane Tech last Friday.

The Kits suffered a 64-57 overtime loss to Rockton Hononegah in the consolation championship of the Dundee-Crown Holiday Tournament on Dec. 29. The nearly weeklong layoff between games had several Evanston players tired during the first quarter against Lane, according to Kits' head coach Steve Wool.

"We missed three days [of practice] because of the holidays,” said Wool. "We had two girls who had the flu, and three or four others who hadn't practiced” for various other reasons.

That the two girls playing with the flu were the team's top two point guards, senior Chabria Survillion and sophomore Kendall Sawa, especially hurt the Kits offensive flow early in the win over Lane. Evanston mustered just nine points and turned the ball over four times in the first period.

But the Wildkits scored 14 unanswered points in the first six minutes of the second quarter and by halftime had built a 31-8 lead.

With several of his regulars tiring early, Wool turned to his reserves and got contributions from some players who had seen little playing time to that point. Junior Briana McClure scored a game-high 12 points off the bench. Junior Krystyna Williams also came off the bench and had one of her most productive offensive games of the season. Williams scored nine points, six of which came during the decisive second quarter run.The solid play of the reserves allowed the Kits to stay fresh throughout the game, which in turn helped them push the ball and play an up-tempo game their coach feels suits their personnel perfectly.

"We're not a big team, but we have to use our quickness,” said Wool. "We start Kim Davis at [center] and she's 5-9, and we start Candice Belcher at power forward and she's 5-7. But they both play with a lot of guts and they're faster than other forwards, and we have to use that to our advantage.”

The Wildkits traveled to Simeon High School on Saturday for a matchup with Von Steuben in the City-Suburban Shootout. The Kits fell short, 47-40, and their record dropped to 8-10 in the process.

"They're very good,” Wool said of the Panthers, who are ranked in the Top 20 in the area. "They played a very aggressive and physical style of game. We were close to seizing a win, [but] I thought they hurt us with their offensive rebounding.” Junior Darcell Retreage led the Wildkits with 15 points against Von Steuben.

The girls played at Oak Park-River Forest on Tuesday night after the RoundTable went to press. They face New Trier at Northwestern's Welsh-Ryan Arena on Friday at 6 p.m.