SEASON PREVIEW: Girls swimmers looking to improve toughness

The 2011 girls swim season got underway as of August 10 with a morning practice at 6 a.m. until 7:30 a.m. The practice schedule is Monday, Wednesday, Friday before and after school and Tuesday, Thursday after school.

After three meets this season, the girls have yet to record a win, but they have an invite this weekend and the girls hope to turn around their losing streak. Their first meet was against Hinsdale South and the varsity score was RB 50 Hinsdale South 133. The second meet the girls competed in was against Glenbrook South, the score for the varsity was RB 32 Glenbrook South 132. The third meet the girls competed in this season was against Oak Park River Forest the score was RB 50 Oak Park River Forest 130.

Senior captain Megan Frey has high expectations for this year’s swim season. She plans to become more mentally tough during swim meets. She also wants to go lifetime best times in the events that she will swim this year. Also as one of the only seniors on the team she wants to be a big sister to all the younger girls and be supportive of each girl. This year Frey will be swimming the 200 free relay, 400 free relay and the 200 IM.

When asked how her first three meets went, she said, “The first one was pretty rough; there were some mental breakdowns. The second meet went very well and I was very happy with my times that I had. The third one was better than the first but not as good as the second, I was still happy with the times that I had gone.”

Junior captain Abby Louthen said, “Our team needs to be close and everyone needs to work hard for their personal goals.” She also added that everyone needs to work on mental toughness. Louthen will be swimming the 100 fly and 100 back as her main events this year.

Louthen said, “There are a lot of young swimmers who work hard and everyone looks very promising.” When asked how her first three swim meets went Louthen said, “They all went okay but the last one we had went the best for me personally. My mental toughness has been getting better since the beginning of the season, which is good.”

Newcomer Nicole Capone is a freshman on varsity this year. Capone said, “My first meet I was extremely nervous, but at the same time I was excited.  But it didn’t go as well as I expected it to. The second meet I was very happy with. The last one we had it wasn’t the worst.” The events that Capone will be swimming throughout this year are 200 free, 200 fly, 200 free relay, 400 free relay.

When asked about her goals she has for the year she said, “I don’t want to have as many mental breakdowns and I want to go 25 seconds in the 200 free relay and 59 seconds in the 400 free relay.”

Capone is going to be competing in her first invite as a high school swimmer this coming weekend. She said, “I hope it will go well, I’m swimming my strongest events but overall I’m very excited for it.”

The girls have 10 more meets/invites left this season, not including sectionals or the state meet. The girls finished in 10^th place at the Hinsdale South Invite.

Four swimmers are headed to state

The swim team had a great sectional meet last weekend. They also broke several school records in the process.

After successful team swim in the 200 Yard Freestyle relay, Sophomore Vince Possie, Juniors John Copp and  Sean DeMuro, and senior Fitz Robling, will all be representing RB at the state meet. Copp will also participate in the 100 Yard Butterfly, as well as DeMuro will swim the the 50 Yard Freestyle. This was Coach Todd Fridrych’s goals this season; sending a few swimmers to the state meet.

Along with the qualifiers, the team put up three new records. The qualifier team put up a new record as well as the 200 Yard Medley Relay put up a new score in the books.  Possie put up a new record for 100 Yard Breaststroke.  That put up a new time that broke a twenty-seven year mark. The hard work the team has been doing the whole season has finally paid off.

Swimmers competing at the State Meet will be hosted by New Trier High School this weekend.

Swim team takes third at conference

On February 5^th the swim team journeyed out to Oswego East and captured third place, with a few top finishes in some events.

Prior to conference, all the swimmers shaved and dyed their hair to get prepared for the meet. “We had a solid meet, I’m happy with the performance, but not ecstatic,” said Coach Todd Fridrych. The Junior Varisty team also competed well, finishing 2^nd overall at the meet.

Some of the swimmers have very successful outings. Senior John Copp took second in the 100 Butterfly, as well as Junior Sean DeMuro won his event in the 50 Freestyle. Along with those events, Senior Kyle Miller  also captured third place in the 500 Freestyle.

The team is saving all their energy for the sectional and hopefully state meet for some. “Sectionals is a big focus for us,” said Fridrych.

A swimmer’s performance at sectionals can give them a bid into the state meet where they will compete with the best swimmers around. They will continue to practice throughout the weeks. Tapering and resting will be the main focus until the sectional meet which will take place on February 19^th at Fenwick High School.

Tough competition at annual swim invite

On the 15^th of January, the swimming team hosted the 57^th annual RB invite. The competition was tough as the team grabbed onto 5^th place out of 9 to finish the day.

Some of the schools that competed in the event included Lockport, St. Ignatius, Oswego, and Andrew. “I think it went really well, 5^th can be deceiving but many of our swimmers had season or even career best times,” said Coach Todd Fridrych.

Senior Kyle Miller finished 5^th in the 500 yard freestyle event with a time of 5 minutes and 13.53 seconds. Junior Sean Demuro posted a 3^rd place finish in the 50 yard freestyle at 23.02 seconds.

The swim team also worked well as a team. At the 200 yard Medley Relay, the team captured 4^th in the invite. It was the team’s best finish throughout the whole invite.

Many of the teams that competed in the invite will most likely be seen in the state competition at the end of the season. “It is good to swim against the top teams. It helps out the team to train harder and to see how they size up to them,” said Fridrych.

As the season winds down,  the team looks to conference and its competition. They have one final meet versus Fenton at home for Senior Night coming up within the week, and then the meet for conference where the team will be tapering until then.

Swimming team gears up for invite

The swimming team has been working through the first half of the season, under the head coach Todd Fridrych. This is Fridrych’s eighth season as head coach for swimming  at Riverside Brookfield, and his 20^th year coaching overall.

“They (swim team)have done well so far and practice hard every day,” Fridrych said. The swim team placed second in the Lincoln Way Central Relay Meet and defeated Plainfield. They also finished seventh in the Downers Grove South Invite, with Seniors Kyle Miller and Sean Demuro leading the way.

The JV squad has been doing a stellar job also. They have a great core of players and are very competitive. Even with eight freshmen, they have really come a long way to improve and develop themselves. Fridrych believes they have a great chacnce of taking conference this year.

The Bulldogs are sitting at a 2-4 record with Thurday’s loss to Oswego East. “As far as the record goes, it doesn’t really tell the tale,” Fridrych said. Many swimmers have had successful time drops throughout the season including senior John Copp.

The next big event for the swim team will be this Saturday as the host the 57^th annual RB Invite. Schools that will be competing in the invite will include St. Ignatius, Oak Park River Forest, Morris, and Lockport. This will be the true test for the swim team as tough competition from OPRF will be in the mix, pursuing to win the invite.

Fridrych and his team have been setting their sights on taking conference this season and hopefully reach sectionals. “Sending four to five swimmers to state would be outstanding,” Fridrych said. Time will only tell how far the team can go and they have the ability to go as far as they can with the talent they have.

Boys swimming, gearing up for a new season

This year’s boys swimming will make a splash on November 22^nd, when the season officially begins. In the mean time, boys are invited to participate in the preseason till the real season starts. The preseason started in October and will end late November. The preseason consists of swimming from 6:00 to 7:30 am on Tuesdays and Thursday and they are encouraged to go to the weight room on their own time.

“I’m looking forward to working hard and hopefully making my way up the varsity team.” said sophomore Ian O’Day.

Once November 22^nd comes around the boys will start the season and will have practices Monday- Friday from 3:30 to 5:30 pm. They will also have morning practices from 6:00 to 7:30 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Eventually, the meets will start which are held on Saturdays.

Verdict: Summer Olympics still better

With the conclusion of the Winter Olympics, it is kind of sad that the nonstop action has finally come to an end. No longer can I turn on NBC and know that there is going to be some sort of winter contest on. One question that is always asked about the Olympics is which games are better: the Winter or Summer Olympics? Though I do like both, I think the summer games are far more exciting and fun to watch.

Both the summer and winter games have their fair share of exciting, heart-pounding sports. The summer games has the 100m dash, while the short track speed skating competition is always crazy in the winter Olympics.

These two sports aren’t without characters to root for either. Though he was not born in the US, Usain Bolt is a fan favorite in the 100m dash, not only in native-Jamaica, but all over the world including the US. In the 2008 Olympics, he smashed records in that event as well as in the 200m.

Speed skating has American Apollo Ohno, who just recently captured his 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th Olympic medals in Vancouver. Speed skating is a sport where anything can happen as Ohno is well aware. He was in fourth going into the final turn of the men’s 1500 meter finals when two Koreans wiped out and he took the silver.

Speed skating is exciting, but I still prefer watching the fastest men in the world compete against each other for just under 10 seconds. This isn’t the only sport where I hold preference for the Summer to the Winter Olympics. Figure skating is boring and overplayed, which is a terrible combination. The male figure skating is ten times worse than the females just because of the terrible outfits that the men wear. I don’t think anybody enjoys these men in the outfits, but I could be wrong. I doubt it though.

The odd sports in the Winter Olympics are pretty interesting, but they can get old fast. Curling was cool a couple Olympics ago, but now I think they go on for too long. The games take forever and there are no household names to draw viewers. The same goes with skeleton and luge, though they are exciting sports nonetheless. The problem is that they are never shown on NBC at good times. One o’clock in the morning is not a good time to watch skeleton.

In the summer games, beach volleyball is the equivalent to figure skating in terms of being overplayed, but I would still much rather watch volleyball. The swimming is also very exciting in the summer games. Sure, part of this is because Michael Phelps is swimming, but the same can be said for snowboarding with Shaun White. Both sports are great to watch, but are made even better with these icons.

On Sunday, February 28^th, the hockey gold medal game was played in Vancouver. This is one thing that I agree is amazing in the Winter Olympics. The United States hung with the gold medal favorite Canadians, and gave them all they could handle for three periods and overtime. The Canadians outlasted the US team 3-2 in a game that kept all fans on the edge of their seats. Basketball does not bring this type of excitement in the summer games, just because the US is heads above every other country at the sport it seems.   

Overall, though, the summer games are much more fun to me. They rarely lag like the winter Olympics do. So in 2012, when the summer games come to London, I will be much more excited for the games. It’s too bad that the 2016 Olympics are not in Chicago.