Beads claim third straight swimming title

EVANSTON — Warm up the fire trucks — there’s a parade on the west side of Aurora today.

On the strength of their relay teams, the Rosary Beads captured their third straight state swimming and diving championship at Evanston Township High School on Saturday. Sweeping the three relays, the Beads tallied 96 of their 184 points en route to the team title.

Waubonsie Valley was fourth (85 points) and Oswego Co-op tied for 16th (26).

The Beads set the tone in the opening event Saturday. Kara Savegnago led off the 200-yard medley relay and Elisabeth Tavierne, Mackenzie Powers and Katherine Hare brought it home in 1 minute, 44.92 seconds. It broke Evanston’s state mark of 1:45.08, set last year.  

“We always want to get out there and win that first one, show the team that we’re ready to go,” said Savegnago, who will continue her swimming career at the University of Louisville. “It just pumps everybody up.”

The Beads rode that momentum throughout the meet. Scoring in 10 of the 12 events, Rosary proved as difficult to catch as a tiger by its tail. No one team could match the Beads’ depth.

“I’m just so happy for these girls,” Rosary coach Bill Schalz said. “It’s fun coming into Saturday and racing those relays. We’ve kind of drifted into the finish in the past just because we had the points, but today we stepped up and raced all the way through to the end of the meet.”

Setting another state record in the 200 freestyle relay, Rosary solidified its overall title in the ninth event. Savegnago, Olivia Scott, Kally Fayhee and Hare joined forces to finish in 1:33.88. Even then, the Beads still had goals, namely a third state record.

While they came up short by 23-hundredths of a second in the final event of the meet, the 400 freestyle relay, they still took first in 3:26.23. Savegnago swam the lead and Fayhee, Rachel Burke and Scott followed.

Scott delivered in the end. Trailing by a slim margin, Scott was told by Savegnago and Fayhee that “it’s up to you.” She passed Katie Shumway of New Trier in the final lap and completed the relay sweep.

“It’s so great,” said Scott, a junior. “We’re all just really excited. We worked so hard for this. It’s a great way to end the season.”

Powers, a junior, claimed the Beads’ lone individual state title, in the 100 butterfly (55.51). Scott, who won the title the previous two years, was disqualified in the preliminaries.

“It’s awesome,” Powers said. “I wanted to do it for myself, but I wanted to do it more for the team since Olivia wasn’t in it. And I wanted to defend the Rosary title.”

“We wanted to keep that race in the family,” Schalz said. “We needed Mackenzie to step up, and that was her opportunity. It’s great for Mackenzie and great for the team.”

Scott earned second place in the 200 individual medley and teammate Diana Norkus finished fifth, while Oswego’s Nicole Ligeza was eighth.

Savegnago took third in the 50 freestyle and Hare, a freshman, earned ninth place. Waubonsie’s Andrea Baumgartner finished in 11th.

Fayhee, who will swim for Michigan next year, added a sixth-place finish in the 200 freestyle and was seventh in the 500 free.

Elena Carvell of Waubonsie grabbed third in the 100 butterfly and swam on all three Warriors relays.

The Warriors placed second in the medley relay, fifth in the 200 free relay and seventh in the 400 free relay. Julia Carroll, Megan Sellers and Baumgartner were on the medley team while Shelby Daeschner, Vicki Munson and Baumgartner teamed up on the 200 freestyle team. Baumgartner, Carroll and Daeschner made up the 400 freestyle team.

“These girls are tough,” Waubonsie coach Tom Schweer said. “They are overachievers and worked hard for this. They pushed each other all season and really meshed together as a team.”

“This is really the first year that we had dreams of placing at state,” said Carvell, who swam on last season’s ninth-place team. “We really wanted to step up this year and have some good swims. Our relays did awesome and it’s just great.”

Sellers, a freshman who celebrated her 15th birthday Saturday, scored a fourth-place finish in the 100 breaststroke, while Oswego’s Karolina Wartalowicz took third. Ligeza finished sixth and Mary Tonner of Rosary placed eighth.

“I’m just so happy and pleased,” Wartalowicz said. “It was a long wait, but I just stayed focused and swam my best time by far.”

Tavierne, who is headed to Ohio State next year, placed third in the 100 backstroke. While four Beads are off to college next year, the baton has been passed.