Lockport's Pope gives Illinois a prayer

Lockport's Courtney Pope (middle) will take her swimming talents to University of Illinois next season.
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LOCKPORT -- When Courtney Pope swam on the Lockport varsity team as a freshman, she was one of two state qualifiers for the Porters.

Three years later, Pope not only qualified for state again, she helped lead six other Lockport qualifiers for this weekend's state meet at New Trier.

While Pope is looking forward to this weekend, she hopes to have the same sort of impact next fall when she heads to the University of Illinois to continue her swimming career.

Pope was one of four Lockport athletes that signed college scholarships on Monday in a ceremony at Lockport East. Three softball players. Kacey Rogers, Jessica Rourke and Amanda Stanton also signed.

"I can't tell you how proud we are today and every day that we have some great athletes that are going to sign to play at the college level," Lockport athletic director Randy Konstans said. "Not only are they great athletes, they are great individuals, too."

Pope has loved being in her position at Lockport and plans to carry that to the college level.

"I like being the leader and building the team up," Pope said. "The U of I is a lot like the Lockport program. They are not the best, but they can get there.

"The Big 10 is the second fastest conference in the nation and is very competitive. Plus, it's great academically and it'll feel great to be a leader there too."

All Pope did this past Saturday was break six records (both pool and sectional) and win four events in Lockport Sectional. The Porters narrowly lost the sectional title to Southwest Suburban Conference foe Sandburg 314-302.

"Five of those points were diving points," said Pope of the sectional results. "So in the pool we were really just about even with them."

It has been 10 years since Pope started swimming competitively and she has known her coach at Lockport, Grant Ferkaluk, that whole time.

"Beforehand coach (Ferkaluk) told me 'It's all on your shoulders,'" Pope said of Saturday's sectional. "It was nerve-racking, but I swam as hard as I could. Being my last home meet it was very emotional."

Ferkaluk has been a mentor for Pope, who plans to major in education and hopes to follow in his footsteps and become a guidance counselor.

"Courtney has been a leader in the pool and outside of it, too," Ferkaluk said. "She has been on the varsity all four years and is coming off an unreal performance last Saturday. Her being a part of the team has moved us to another level and the U of I will certainly have someone to build around."

The Porter softball program has always had success. That was shown once again by the trio of signings.

"These are wonderful young ladies and student-athletes," Lockport softball assistant coach Rachel Gensch said. "They are overall leaders and represent who we want to be as Lockport softball players. I'm happy for their success and looking forward to having them one more spring."

Rogers will attend the University of Evansville.

"It's about 5 1/2 hours away and a really neat school," said Rogers, who plans to major in business. "I just love the coaches there -- they are new for this season."

This past spring, Rogers played a few different positions for the Porters, but mostly left field. She hopes to play infield in college.

Rourke plays infield now and was at third this past spring. She will stay local and attend Lewis University.

"I just started talking to Lewis this past fall," said Rourke, who also plays basketball and is undecided on a major. "It's really nice there, like it's own little community. It's the best of both worlds. I can stay there and be close to home."

Stanton will be going a little further from home. She will go to Eastern Michigan next fall, and actually decided to go there at the end of last fall.

"Everyone felt more like a family there," said Stanton, who has been at shortstop for the Porters since her freshman year. "The coaches are great and I hope to play short, third or outfield there.

"Plus they have a really good teaching program there and that's what I want to do."

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