Girls Swim Team Continues to Shine

By P. H. Toor

The ETHS girls swim team continued their determined march towards a state championship, posting an impressive 1-1 record in back-to-back meets against swim powerhouses Lake Forest and Barrington. They also won the Palatine Invite Tournament on Sept. 15. After blowing out Barrington on Sept. 7 by the score of 105.50 to 79.50, the girls had little time to celebrate as the following morning they narrowly lost their first road meet of the year to Barrington, 94-92.

"We just swam really well head-to-head with [Barrington]," coach Kevin Auger said. "We sometimes have difficulty getting up for the Barrington meet because we are swimming [against] two great teams back-to-back," he said. "We are trying to simulate a state atmosphere where you have to swim on Friday and then get up and swim again the next day."

At the Palatine College event, the girls won the five-team meet.

Over the past two weeks, Coach Auger has been extremely impressed by some of the individual efforts and times posted by his swimmers.

"Grace Borchers had a really good meet against Barrington. She was turning in some tremendous times," said Coach Auger. "Kristina Walsh swam really well - she was also turning in times last week that were under the state standards. Sophie Beatrice had a great meet. They are almost where they were last year at state championship level," he said.

Equally impressive was Becca Thompson at the Palatine meet, and Becky Ramsey swam well against Lake Forest, winning both the mile and the 500-meters.

"[Ramsey's] distance swimming is coming [along] really well." Coach Auger said.
Despite the overwhelming positive energy emulating from the swim team, there have been some minor glitches in some of the team's performances. Against Lake Forest, an ETHS relay team was disqualified when a Wildkit swimmer failed to touch the wall before her teammate dove into the pool.

"Those are things that we have to work on every week. You can always do things better. They aren't making mistakes -- the Lake Forest relay where we got disqualified was a little bit of an eye opener," Coach Auger said. "You're tired and in the middle of the season, you are bound to make an error here or there. That's what the end of the season is about -- making sure you're well rested and prepared," he said.

Currently, the swim team is putting in 10-15 kilometers a day in the pool.

"They are putting in some work, but it's a lot of fun," Coach Auger said. "We're just going to continue to do what we're doing. We are going to get into better shape. We need to keep improving. We have a deep team and we have a lot of kids who can score points at state but they have to score big points. We have a bunch of meets coming up that'll test us a lot."

Boys Soccer Team Off to a Promising Start

By Michael O'Sullivan

After last season's disappointing loss in the playoffs to New Trier, the ETHS boys soccer team is off to a solid start to begin the new season. The team, led by head coach Franz Calixte, is 5-1, not including tournament play, and has a perfect mark of 1-0 in the conference.

"To start the year we had a lot to prove, and we knew we had the ability to have a successful season," senior forward Jacob Zbesko said. "I think we were a little nervous and shaky our first couple of games, but now we are really starting to come together."

The team lost a lot of talented seniors but they have an exciting and energized new roster. The team is hoping to go deep into the postseason just like they did last year. "We definitely want another chance against New Trier. They ended our season last year, but this time we're hoping to end theirs," Zbesko said. The Kits have two very talented senior goal scorers in Christopher Henrichs and David Sippel.

ETHS faces conference foe Niles West at Memorial Stadium on September 25.

Evanston Woman to Represent U.S. at World Championships

Evanston resident Ava Gehringer was named an alternate on the U.S. Rhythmic Gymnastics team. The team will compete in the 2007 World Championships on Sept. 19-23 in Patras, Greece. The competition doubles as the qualifying event for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. "These women have been training hard in preparation for the World Championships," said Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics. "We expect them to represent the United States well in Greece."

After a Slow Start, Girls Tennis Team Improving

By P. H. Toor
After a disappointing start, theinexperienced girls varsity tennis team has turned their season around. The Wildkits opened the season with four straight losses against Oak Park-River Forest (3-4), Latin School (2-3), Loyola (1-6) and Deerfield (0-9). But they seem to have righted the ship, as the team has rattled off three straight victories against Marine East (9-0), Whitney Young (3-1) and Waukegan (7-0).

"It's just a matter of winning the close matches," coach Mindy Horne said.

"We were just one point away from winning the match [against Oak Park], and I felt that we should have beaten Latin."

Against Oak Park, sophomore Jane Hohman fought her way to match point against her opponent but was unable to come away with a victory.

"That's a tough spot to be in, and she's [Hohman] taking it well, even though she's not winning a ton of matches. She's certainly getting some experience there," Coach Horne said of her first-singles leader.

"It's a hard position for me, but every match I'm learning something new, and I'm trying to improve on what I did wrong in the last matches," Hohman said. "I'm trying to stay positive, and in the end it'll be a good experience for me."

So far this season, the team's greatest weakness has been their youth and inexperience.

"We lost a lot of seniors. I think we lost about 6 out of 12 [players], which is half the team. This broke up a lot of the doubles teams, because it completely split the team we had," team captain, senior Meredith Nelson said. "I think we're doing better than we expected. It's not really as rough as we thought it was going to be. I know a lot of the varsity returning players were nervous about it, and now we are sort of relaxed."

Regardless of the team's wins and losses, Coach Horne wants to see intensity and determination.

"I just think we need to really focus on winning the close matches and having pride when that match gets close and you really want to come out with the victory," Coach Horne said. "My varsity played the JV team, and though the match didn't mean anything, you could see that the varsity really wanted to win. That's what I want to see in match play. I want them to have that intensity -- that they're not going to walk off that court without a win."

"We have a lot of girls who can and will rise to the occasion by the end of the season," said Nelson.

Hooked on Fishing

Fall Fishing and Winterizing the Gear

By Dick Peach

As fall fishing continues for some of us, the quality is really outstanding. The smallmouth fishing on Lake Geneva has been really worth the trip. The fish have been down on 25 to 30 feet of water but have been very aggressive, hitting drop shot rigs and blade baits. Lake

Michigan has had some wavy days, so my fishing has been limited. But the bass are still holding in their late summer spots, and with the promise of a few "Indian Summer" days to come, the prospects for some great fishing on the lake look good. Last month was pretty wet and all that rain has a lot of the area lakes either closed to boats or in a "no wake" status. Before planning a fall trip, call the DNR or local bait shops to check on lake conditions.

Those who have decided that it's time to pack it in for this year's fishing can do some things now to make next year better. To start, make sure the tackle box is dried out from this year. Open all the compartments, check the lures for moisture and let the box air out and dry if necessary. Storing wet tackle will coat everything with rust and tarnish all the chrome and brass blades, making a lot of work next spring. Now is the time to strip the line off fishing reels to avoid having to respool the line next spring and to prevent the #1 mistake of most anglers: fishing with old fishing line. Fall is also a great time to put some oil on those reels, so they are protected while they sit in the garage or basement over the winter. It would not hurt to wipe the fishing rods down with a rag coated lightly with WD-40 before storing them as well.

Good things for the kids will be coming to Lovelace Park next year. I'll provide details as they become available.

Til next time, keep a tight line.
hookedonfishing@comcast.net

Kits Football Loses a Giant Heartbreaker

By Michael O'Sullivan

A week after Coach Johnson's football team won an overtime thriller against Main West, 27-26, things looked good heading into their Sept. 15 game against the Highland Park Giants. The Wildkits and Giants both came into Memorial Stadium with 1-2 records, and ETHS hoped to make it two wins in a row.

The game went back and forth all afternoon, and it was mostly a defensive battle until the very end of the fourth quarter. Jake Rohde made his second start of the year for the Wildkits and, with under a minute left in the game, found sophomore receiver Josh Perryman for a 35-yard touchdown hookup to tie the game at 14-14 with 52 seconds to play.

The Kits, however, had little time to celebrate their dramatic comeback drive. Highland Park had just enough time for one final rally; with 17 seconds to play, Giant quarterback Matt Kopp hit Bill Wilnef in the end zone with a 45-yard pass to put a dagger in the hearts of the Wildkits. The Kits fought hard to tie the game, but the Giants squeaked out of Evanston with a 21-14 victory.

"Any loss is tough, but this is a heartbreaker. Our defense did a great job all game long, and our offense put together a great drive at the end to tie the game. We just couldn't make it to overtime," Coach Johnson said. "I am proud of these boys. They played their guts out today and deserved a win here at home."

The Wildkit offense had a tough time putting points on the board, but Rohde led a great last-minute drive, showing leadership and poise. He found senior receiver Jon Horrell three times on the final possession and then hit Perryman for the game-tying score. Evanston's other score came in the first quarter, when Michael Schanette ran for a 60-yard touchdown.

Evanston looked like an improved team on both sides of the ball since their two early defeats. "We are a better football team, there is no doubt in my mind," Coach Johnson said. "We just need to bounce back from this tough loss and get ready for the next [game]."

The Wildkits are back on the field tomorrow against Maine South.

After a Slow Start, Girls Tennis Team Improving

By P. H. Toor

After a disappointing start, theinexperienced girls varsity tennis team has turned their season around. The Wildkits opened the season with four straight losses against Oak Park-River Forest (3-4), Latin School (2-3), Loyola (1-6) and Deerfield (0-9). But they seem to have righted the ship, as the team has rattled off three straight victories against Marine East (9-0), Whitney Young (3-1) and Waukegan (7-0).