L-P co-op girls swimming dominates home triangular

PERU – La Salle-Peru sophomore Emma Short has not been swimming her best in recent meets.

“I’ve been pretty far from my personal bests, and that’s been really hard on me because I know I can do better,” Short said.

But Short bounced back Tuesday.

Short won the 200-yard freestyle in a personal-best 2:09.74 and claimed the 500 freestyle in 5:44.21 while also swimming on two winning relays as the L-P co-op dominated a triangular at the Illinois Valley YMCA.

The Cavaliers scored 101 points to beat the Morris co-op (44) and Bloomington Central Catholic (19).

“I’ve had a couple rough meets, and this has been the first meet where I’ve actually gotten a [personal record], so I’m pretty happy about that,” Short said. “I think all my teammates had really high energy, and that helps me a lot. This is my home pool, and being back here really gave me a mindset that I needed to do well. It made me feel good.”

L-P swept the three relays and won six of eight individual events.

“They have improved every meet this season,” L-P coach Rob McNally said. “We’re still not where we want to be. Sectional is five weeks away. I’ve impressed upon them the importance of continuing to work hard. Considering where their times are right now untapered, I expect that we’re going to have some really good times at the sectional meet, thinking long term.”

Sophomore Sam Nauman also won two individual events for the Cavs, winning the 200 individual medley in 2:16.81 – 17.31 seconds ahead of the runner-up – and the 100 backstroke in 1:00.09 to win by 12.34 seconds.

“I had some good swims,” Nauman said. “My IM was really close to my high school PR. My 100 back was the closest I’ve been to my time from last year. So overall it was a good meet.”

Nauman, a state qualifier last year, said she’s happy with where she’s at ahead of the Normal West Sectional on Nov. 9.

“With sectional a month away, we’re kind of at the height of our training,” Nauman said. “Our yards are going up. Training is increasing, so our times may not be as close to where we think they should be, but in the long run we’ll be good for sectional. When we start tapering, we’ll be ready.”

Other winners for L-P were Finley Jobst in the 100 butterfly (1:09.93) and Addisyn Budnick in the 100 freestyle (1:03.7).

Nauman, Anna Weitl, Jobst and Budnick won the 200 medley relay in 2:06.12; Emily Lowery, Budnick, Clara Weitl and Short took first in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:55.25, and Jobst, Short, Anna Weitl and Nauman claimed the 400 freestyle relay in 4:03.64.

“We are dominating our opponents in the relays, but there are a lot of good teams out there,” McNally said. “There are faster relays out there. We have swum against faster relays. Byron beat us in all three relays, so that was good motivation for them to work hard. There’s still a long ways to go. They still have to cut a few seconds yet to break any team records in the relays.

“We’ll see what happens. I’m proud of them, and I look forward to the next five weeks.”

Morris claimed two wins with Jena Lopina winning the 50 freestyle in 27.18 seconds and Caitlin Van Acker winning the 100 breaststroke in 1:17.34.

“I thought overall it was a great meet for us,” Morris coach Andrew Porth said. “This was a very fast-paced meet. Overall, our girls put together a strong performance. I was impressed with our relays. Our sprinters did really well. I thought Caitlin Van Acker put together a nice swim at the end [in the 100 breaststroke]. I definitely think Jena Lopina came through big for us. I think Ella Mailhiot did a good job stepping up in the relays.”