Swimming & Diving: Watterson Eagles girls build strong team culture
For seniors Olivia Oyster and Molly Shanahan, mixing in new faces with familiar ones is one of the things that makes being a part of the Watterson girls swimming and diving team special.
Oyster, who has reached the podium in a Division I state event three times and advanced to state in each of her first three seasons, has her eye on placing in the top three in at least one state event this winter.
Shanahan swam the butterfly portion of the 200-yard medley relay that was 11th (1 minute, 47.45 seconds) at state last season and likely will concentrate again on the 100 fly and possibly the 200 individual medley.
Both have felt invigorated in their pursuits by the addition of what the Eagles believe is a strong freshman class, fueling what they hope is a culture of inclusivity.
“I’m really excited,” Shanahan said. “We have really good club swimmers that are working really hard, but we also have a lot of freshmen and sophomores this year, which I’m really excited about for the atmosphere of the team. It’s a lot more fun with some new kids and that they can bring some new ideas to the team.”
Oyster and Shanahan are among an experienced core group of swimmers that helped the Eagles score 51.5 points and finish 15th at state last season.
Oyster was sixth in the 50 freestyle (23.54) and junior Grace Rider was seventh in the 100 breaststroke (1:04.02). Oyster added a 10th-place finish in the 100 free (52.13), and Oyster and Shanahan were joined on the 200 medley relay by Rider and senior Lucia Cherok.
Junior Teagan Price is another top returnee after swimming at state on the 13th-place 400 free relay (3:34.6) with Cherok, Oyster and Rider.
Oyster, who has signed with Xavier, took much of March and April off before returning to club competition and competing at national events during the summer. She believes her best event this season again should be the 50 free, in which she placed fourth in the 2020 state meet.
“State last year was crazy because they didn’t allow a lot of spectators, so I’m excited to get a lot more people there and make it a lot more fun,” Oyster said. “Our returning seniors are all pretty fast, so I think we’ll get a pretty good relay going to state, and we’ve got a lot of freshmen, too, so it’s going to be fun watching them develop this year and getting them into the team spirit.
“I think the best thing about our team is just the community. I’ve grown up with smaller teams, so being on a team that’s family based, it feels like we’re all pretty close here. The environment is really welcoming.”
Cami Price, who won the 100 backstroke (1:05.81) in the St. Charles Showdown on Dec. 4 and is Teagan Price’s sister, is part of a freshman class that also features Maggie Green, Jocie Miller and Emily Schmidt.
Dan Cherok, who is Lucia’s father and is in his fourth season as coach, is excited to see how well his talented newcomers mesh with the program veterans.
“I’ve got my three captains in Lucia, Molly and (senior) Carlee Gotti and they’ve got their squads that they communicate with and try to rally,” coach Cherok said. “It’s been so far, so good.”
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BEECHCROFT
•Coach: Dan Zedeker, 20th season
•Top athletes: Boys — Daylen Allen; Girls — Lily Braaksma, Maci Braaksma, Akiilah Whitfield and Nyrobi Whitfield
•Key losses: None
•2020-21 City standings: Boys — Whetstone (120), Centennial (95), Beechcroft (12); Girls — Centennial (101), Whetstone (97), Beechcroft (30)
•2021 postseason: Boys — Ninth at sectional, did not score at district; Girls — Ninth at sectional, 34th at district
•Outlook: With the addition of freshman Akiilah Whitfield, the Cougars have enough girls to compete in relays.
Akiilah Whitfield is the sister of senior Nyrobi Whitfield, who finished 16th in the 200-yard individual medley (2 minutes, 28.65 seconds) and 18th in the 100 freestyle (57.85) at the Division II district meet last season.
The other girls, senior Lily Braaksma and sophomore Maci Braaksma, are returnees and also are sisters.
Allen is a senior who is the only boy in the program. He was 19th in the 100 breaststroke (1:10.51) at district last season.
•Quotable: “Our hopes are that we make it to district in a (girls) relay. We want to win some City championship events and do well in the sectionals but also for all of them to have a lot of fun.” — Zedeker
—Jarrod Ulrey
DeSALES
•Coach: Ryan Buechner, seventh season
•Top athletes: Boys — Reece Hanley, Wyatt Hanley, Will Jordan, Brady McInerney and Luca Ricci; Girls — Ashley Anderson, Isabella Felter, Lydia Letzelter, Libby Ruff and Kaitlyn Schaefer
•Key losses: Boys — Leo Sears; Girls — None
•2020-21 CCL standings: Boys — St. Charles (539), DeSales (217), Hartley (196), Watterson (115), Ready (2); Girls — Watterson (462), Hartley (324), DeSales (281), Ready (28)
•2021 postseason: Boys — First at sectional, 15th at district, 21st at state; Girls — Third at sectional, 21st at district, did not score at state
•Outlook: The return of two state qualifiers in McInerney — a Kentucky recruit and the defending Division II state champion in the 100-yard freestyle — and Ruff, a DePauw commit who was 18th in the 500 free in the Division I state meet provides a solid nucleus for a growing program.
McInerney was district champion in both the 100 free and 200 free and finished fourth at state in the latter event.
There are 51 swimmers in the program, an increase of more than 20 from a season ago.
The size of the program means Buechner likely will have to rotate competitors between meets, but that also should serve to help his early objective of putting swimmers in different events to help find their strengths.
A promising freshman class includes breaststrokers Jack Lofthouse and Sarah Neighbor for the boys and girls teams, respectively, as well as cross country state qualifier Charles Rizek. Rizek is splitting his winter between swimming and wrestling.
•Quotable: “We’ve grown this program so much. We have a good program and we’ve gotten people to state and had a champion. Part of (the growth) is we were up to 40 before the pandemic, so some of them are back in it this year and ready to keep improving. We have a lot of freshmen who want to swim, try this out and see how they do.” — Buechner
—Dave Purpura
WATTERSON
•Coach: Dan Cherok, fourth season
•Top athletes: Boys — Brady Benjamin, Julian Cherok, L.J. Kramer, Danny Muldoon, Mason Ratliff and Jacob Rider; Girls — Lucia Cherok, Carlee Gotti, Anna Liedtke, Olivia Oyster, Cami Price, Teagan Price, Grace Rider and Molly Shanahan
•Key losses: Boys — Dominic Rubino and Elliott Schmidt; Girls — Clare Galuzny and Isabelle Roscoe
•2021 postseason: Boys — 24th at district; Girls — Eighth at district, 15th at state
•Outlook: Nearly all of the girls team’s key competitors have returned, including a senior class that features Lucia Cherok, Caroline Elliott, Gotti, Liedtke, Oyster and Kayla Rife, a junior class led by Rider and Teagan Price and sophomores Bridget Hayes and Taylor Zupan.
Freshmen Maggie Green, Jocie Miller, Cami Price and Emily Schmidt also are expected to make immediate impacts.
The boys team returns three of its five competitors from last season in sophomores Julian Cherok, Muldoon and Kramer and features a trio of freshmen in Jacob Rider, who is Grace Rider’s brother, as well as Benjamin and Ratliff.
•Quotable: “We’ve got a couple powerhouse (swimmers) in Olivia Oyster and Grace Rider back, along with Lucia Cherok, Molly Shanahan and Teagan Price, and her little sister, Cami Price, is with us this year. They’ve been club swimmers for a while and they know how it goes. We’ve got six boys, so we can field all three relays this year, which is good. We’re really happy.” — coach Cherok
—Jarrod Ulrey
WHETSTONE
•Coaches: Boys — Chris Cordi, second season; Girls — Diane Barnhart, fourth season
•Top athletes: Boys — Evan Beers, Max Johnson, Aaron Schaefer, Isaac Schaefer and Nick Timmons; Girls — Cristin Flanagan, Xiudan McCollum, Nezzie O’Malley, Safiyyah Omardien and Rebecca Schaefer
•Key losses: Boys — Matthew Conroy and Javier Cruz-Ginez; Girls — Emma Schaefer
•2021 postseason: Boys — Fourth at sectional; Girls — Fifth at sectional
•Outlook: The boys and girls teams are looking forward to having a busier schedule and more consistent results after the interruptions that were caused by the COVID-19 pandemic last winter.
The top returnees for the boys team include juniors Aaron Schaefer, Isaac Schaefer and Timmons along with Johnson, who is a sophomore.
Beers, who is a senior, junior Duncan Fellrath, sophomore Joshua Conroy and freshman Carson Christopher are others looking to contribute.
The girls team is led by seniors O’Malley and Rebecca Schaefer and juniors Flanagan, Ella Combs, McCollum and Cameron Robinson. McCollum is a diver.
Omardien leads a freshman class that also includes Sophia Mourn, Cora Schaefer, Jane Schaefer and Rachel Showalter.
•Quotable: “Our numbers are up. Last year we had a total of 18 kids in the program and this year we’ve got 31, so we’ve got kids that have come back and we have some that we haven’t seen before. We have two that have never swam but wanted to be around a different group of kids and have a good time and they’re doing excellently.” — Cordi
—Jarrod Ulrey
This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Swimming & Diving: Watterson Eagles girls build strong team culture
