Seniors Show The Way To State Swim Finals

In their first three years in the Evanston girls swim program, Abby Romisher and Monroe Stroth never really got close to making a trip to the Illinois High School Association state finals.

But it’s never too late to make a splash.

The two ETHS seniors set the state qualifying pace for the Wildkits Saturday at the Glenbrook North Sectional, as Romisher kept her season alive in the 500-yard freestyle race and the Kits also advanced both freestyle relay teams.

The Wildkits bettered the qualifying time standards in all 3 of those races and earned the right to compete at the IHSA preliminaries next Friday at the FMC Natatorium in Westmont. Romisher’s season-best time of 5 minutes, 10.23 seconds earned 3rd place in the 500 freestyle, and Evanston qualified relay teams for State for the first time since 2019 as the 200 freestyle unit took 4th (in 1:38.35) and the 400 relay team recorded a 3rd place finish (in 3:35.02).

Evanston placed 4th in the team standings with 156 points. New Trier ruled the competition with 319, followed in order by Loyola Academy (218), Glenbrook North (158) and ETHS.

Head coach Kevin Auger’s young squad featured a postseason lineup that included just 4 seniors --- Romisher, twin sister Riley Romisher, Stroth, and Elise Pollack --- and the veteran coach was more than satisfied with the overall performance from his swimmers.

“The seniors really stepped up today. Honestly, everyone did, especially in the relays,” Auger pointed out. “All of those seniors have put in four great years for us. They had to improve, and improve, and improve every year to get to State. They earned it.

“It’s so great to see the relays qualify because the relays are a team thing --- and we’re a team. We don’t have any superstars we can turn to in the relays to light it up and get us to State. We just kept bringing fast swims, and I can truly say that was a team effort.”

Romisher, who also captured 5th in the 200 freestyle in another season best (1:56.6), dropped another 2 seconds in the longer race Saturday after chopping 10 seconds off her time the previous week while taking the conference title in the 500.

She teamed up with sophomore Annika Wartowski, junior Cameron Corbett and freshman Vanya Gojakovic to qualify in the 400 relay, and came back scant minutes after her 500 race to anchor the 200 qualifying team that also included Wartowski, Corbett and Stroth.

“How does it feel to get to State? It feels really nice. I’m really excited!” Abby Romisher said. “I’ve been working really hard and it paid off. And it’s nice to be going as a (relay) team with people who really deserve it.

“The seniors are all super good friends and it’s really nice to see this pay off in best times for all of us. I’ve been a state qualifier in club --- I knew it would happen eventually in high school --- and I’m super happy with how things went today.

“My best moment today? That’s hard. It’s a different feeling, for myself and for the relays. On one hand it’s nice to see that my (individual) hard work paid off and that everyone got to see me do it. In the relays, we all did whatever we could to make it. Cam (Corbett) made a difference on the short relay (Corbett didn’t swim that race at the CSL South division meet) and it was nice to get that (qualifying) time.”

Back-to-back 200 relay legs by Stroth (24.08 split) and Corbett (24.16) set the Kits up in a race where the top 6 finishers all qualified for State.

For Stroth, the chance to keep competing motivated the senior sprinter to a career-best effort in 4 races. She finished 8th in the open 50 freestyle in 24.78, earned 8th in the 100 freestyle in 54.18, and turned in an eye-catching anchor split of 23.88 for the 4th place 200 medley relay team.

Not bad considering she started the season on the injured list after suffering a dislocated shoulder diving off a waterfall during her summer vacation in Hawaii and wasn’t certain she’d even HAVE a senior season of competition.

“Usually that can take 6 months to a year to heal,” explained the ETHS senior. “I was really disappointed. I didn’t start swimming until about a month into the season.

“Honestly, I’m very surprised to swim all those lifetime bests today. I just really wanted it because I’m a senior and I thought this could be my last meet --- but it can’t be my last one, you know? My taper has been really good this year.

“After the medley relay didn’t make it --- and we thought we could --- that could have set a tone that was not good. But we just had to look past that, and everything ended on a good note.”

“Luckily, Monroe didn’t have to have surgery,” Auger added. “That injury was unfortunate because I know she had trained really hard and had a good summer. Nobody thought she would be a state qualifier when she came in as a freshman. She really put in the work.”

Gojakovic came up short in her bid to qualify as an individual in both the 200 individual medley and the 100 backstroke, with an uneven performance you might expect from a rookie competing in her first sectional.

But her split of 53.24 as the anchor for the 400 relay showed her ability to rise to the occasion. She finished 5th in the IM in 2:10.64, just missing the state cut of 2:10.25, and in the backstroke faded over the last 25 yards to register a non-qualifying 59.23 for 6th place. She needed a 58.44 to advance in the backstroke.

“Vanya was spectacular --- and then not (spectacular),” said Auger. “That 2:10 was a phenomenal swim, but then that backstroke swim was not great. Then, Vanya was unbelievable on that last relay.”