Roster increases by 10 swimmers over last year
Coach Renee Walker is kicking off the 2017 girls swim team season with 10 more swimmers than she had last year. The co-op team comprised of girls from Woodstock High School and Woodstock North High School grew from 11 to 21 athletes this year.
“We have a lot of new freshmen this year,” said Walker. “The majority of them came from the Woodstock Dolphins Swim Team.”
Having some competitive background gives the team a lot more depth, albeit raw talent.
“I think we’ll have a very strong JV team this year,” said Walker.
The JV team had a good showing, placing second, just three points short of first, in the team’s opening triangular meet Aug. 22 against DeKalb High School at Byron High School.
Lacking some depth on the varsity side, Walker said, “We’ll be focused on individual swims in varsity.”
Walker named one of the top returning varsity swimmers as sophomore Lucia Alcazar, whose best events include the 200-yard individual medley, the 100-yard backstroke and the 100-yard butterfly. She also swims both the varsity relays.
“I expect her to do well at sectionals, and her goal is to qualify for state,” said Walker.
She named sophomore Angelina Scolio as another strong contender for sectionals in the 100-yard backstroke.
Walker considers freshman Autumn Zimmerman as a young swimmer to watch. She comes to the Woodstock team from a competitive swimming background, although she is currently undergoing therapy to recover from a shoulder injury.
“We’re excited that it’s a bigger team this year,” said Walker. “We have such a great group of girls. They put a lot of hours into swimming, and they work very hard.”
She added that academically the girls swim team has consistently been one of the highest GPA sports teams for the last few years.
The next outing for the girl’s swim team will be Sept. 13 when they take on McHenry High School at home, in the WNHS pool.