Four members of the Buffalo Grove girls swimming and diving team stood near a hospitality area at the Barrington Sectional on Saturday, Nov. 14, with huge smiles on their faces.
It didn’t matter that none of them — or their teammates — qualified for this weekend’s state meet at New Trier. That’s because the Bison are a young group that’s loaded with talent and potential.
“Watching the effort my teammates give every time they’re in the pool makes me want to work that much harder,” said freshman Emily Schulstad. “We’re only going to keep improving as long as we all keep working hard and working together as a team.”
One by one, each of the girls explained how coach Tom Mroz had an impact on them throughout the year.
“Coach Mroz is always positive toward us, really pushes us to be our best and gives us these great pep talks,” Schulstad said.
Freshman Samantha Swanson got one of those pep talks shortly before competing in the 100-yard freestyle, where she finished with a time of 59.04 seconds. The state-qualifying time was 53.25 seconds or better. She’ll have three more years to reach that goal.
“That was my personal best,” Swanson said. “Coach Mroz gave me a pep talk before the 100 freestyle that really helped me mentally prepare myself. It put me in the right fame of mind, which I needed, because two races earlier, in the 50 freestyle, I was a little upset with myself because I didn’t meet my personal goal.”
“Coach Mroz helps us see the bigger picture,” added junior Alexa Jedryka. “He reminds us all that we have a lot more talent than we think. That’s especially helpful after we have a tough race.”
Jedryka has become a leader of sorts for the Bison and shared a lighthearted moment with Schulstad at the end of the meet.
“Alexa’s pretty fast … no offense Alexa, but I want to beat you sometimes,” Schulstad said, laughing. “Teammates like you make me want to work harder. That one time I beat you by one-hundredth of a second, coach Mroz was so happy.”
“You should want to beat me,” Jedryka replied, also laughing.
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Freshman Diana Morosan is another team member on the rise. She finished with a time of 57.71 seconds in the 100 freestyle, good for 13th place overall, three spots ahead of Swanson.
“I think we all have the potential to make it to state one day,” Morosan said. “We’ve got a lot of time ahead of us to achieve those goals. But I think the thing I’m encouraged most about is how positive everyone on this team is. There’s no negativity. Everyone is always cheering each other on. It makes swimming that much more fun.”
Though they’ll lose senior Brina Wahout to graduation, the Bison expect to return sophomores Katie Wasilewski and Claudia Spiel, along with junior Isabelle Samson. That’s in addition to freshman divers Patrycja Sobolak (seventh overall at sectionals) and Nikki Ruby (14th overall).
“Next year’s gonna be real exciting,” Jedryka said. “I can’t wait to see how we do.”
Tim Froehlig is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter: @TFroehlig