IHSA GIRLS STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Friday, November 18th – Saturday, November 19th
- Evanston, Illinois
- Live results (also on Meet Mobile, search ‘IHSA‘)
- Short Course Yards
University (Urbana) junior Ema Rajic dropped a few tenths in both of her races, breaking IHSA records in both. In the 200 IM, she swam to a time of 2:00.27, cracking the oldest record in the Illinois books, a 2:00.63 set in 1998 by Emily Pisula. Rosary’s Alexis Yager was hot on her heels, putting up a 2:00.75 for 2nd. The two would meet again in the 100 breast, but it was all Rajic in this race. Her 1:00.77 broke her own day-old IHSA record, as she bettered her prelims swim by .13. Yager’s 1:02.97 was good to tie her for third.
Oswego East’s Georgia White had a very successful meet, coming away with two wins in the freestyle events. While she gained time in both of her individual swims from prelims, she swam her way to IHSA titles in the 200 free (1:47.03) and 100 free (50.13). The 200 free was a tight race between her and Loyola senior Ella Tierney, with Tierney finishing up right behind White in 1:47.24. The Texas commit Tierney was victorious, however, in the 500 free with a 4:48.45. She was the only swimmer to break the 4:50 barrier, and then dove in to anchor Loyola’s 3rd place 200 free relay with a 23.15 the very next event.
Rosary won that 200 free relay, with all four swimmers going 23’s, led by a 23.33 anchor from junior Emily Ryan. The Beads were dominant this weekend, getting both of their swimmers (teams get two individual entries per event) into scoring position in every single event except for the 100 and 500 free and 100 back (though they had a single scorer in each of those). Their strongest event was the 100 fly, where junior Camryn Streid won (55.39) with sophomore Kathryn Mueller (56.28) touching 4th.
Finishing strong, Rosary combined for a 3:25.25 to win the 400 free relay, anchored by Yager in 50.65. Tierney of Loyola and White of Oswego East put up the quickest splits in the entire field, both girls anchoring their teams. Tierney was 50.14 and White 50.03, as Loyola and Oswego East finished 2nd and 3rd, overall. The 400 free relay podium mirrored the final team scores– Rosary won, followed by Loyola in 2nd and Oswego East in 3rd.
TEAM SCORES
- Rosary 185.5
- Loyola 131
- Oswego East 120
- Oak Park 103
- New Trier 87
Rosary was so impressive. Oswego was probably even more impressive considering they can’t recruit swimmers and have attendance boundaries that the top two schools don’t have.
Yeah, would never have predicted that from Oswego if you asked me 1-2 years ago. Both teams only lose one State swimmer to graduation, too, so next year will be dominant for those two teams again.
Public schools recruit all the time. Parents simply move into the school district. It may not happen as much in swimming but it happens all the time in football and basketball. Plus, the public schools typically have better resources and facilities than private schools. The salaries in the public schools are much higher than a private school. It’s my understanding Rosary doesn’t even have a pool? Kids and parents like to follow coaches they believe will make them into a athletic superstar public or private.
I don’t think people are moving to Oswego based on their swim program (although they might now!) You are talking about a $300 K investment to move into a school system – not a ton of parents are going to do that. The post was a kudos to OSW – but lets call a spade a spade. All the Rosary scorers with the exception of 2 swim club for Rosary’s coach. They may not have a pool on campus, but they do not have to fight for pool time like some of the HS do (Wheaton, Addison Trail are a few HS programs that don’t have pools), and have access to all the equipment the club swimmers do. They have… Read more »
ema rajic is my hero