2003 Year in Review

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Where there’s a will there’s a way

By Lindsay Smith
By taking sixth out of twelve at the UT invitational on Saturday October 11, 2003, the Fillies again proved that where there’s a will there’s a way. The Fillies captured eight personal bests, and 106 points.

The first event was the 200-medley relay. The Fillies just missed taking home a medal. They placed fourth, out-touched by Peoria Richwood by a half second. Their time was their season best: 2:01.84.

Smiley Smith swam the third event, which was the 200-yard IM. Her time was 2:20.13, a personal best. Her time was good enough to get her a medal for fourth place. She out touched Kara Kupresin of Pleasant Valley by 0.09 seconds. Then in event number five, Smiley swam the 100 butterfly, along with her younger sister, Lindsey. Her time in this event was 1:04.90, beating Emily Miller of Peoria Notre Dame by less than a second. Smiley’s time was another personal best. She received a bronze medal for that event.

Teammate Rachel Fedyk took a pair of gold medals home with her last Saturday. Her first medal came in the 50 freestyle. She was timed at 25.20, faster than Heather Hartman of Pleasant Valley by a half second. She was again close to a state time, which is a 25.09. Rachel’s second gold came from another freestyle event, the 100. She touched in at the wall 56.09 seconds after she had left the blocks at the start of the event. This time was just enough to cut Amy Johnson of Quincy short three points as Rachel defeated her by 0.18 seconds.

Michelle Bos also had a day filled with personal bests. Her first one came in the 50 freestyle. She broke her goal of getting a 30.00 or better by finishing with a time of 29.99. Michelle ended up beating Erica Ebensberger of Clinton by less than a half second. Michelle also landed a personal best in the 100 free with a time of 1:06.83. She followed Bridgete Garvey of Davenport North by a little less than a second.

Lindsey Smith swam the 100 butterfly where she too had a personal best. She recorded a 1.10.60. That time is less than a second away from a junior varsity record. Lindsey was just touched out of twelfth place and a point by Katherine Smith, who was 0.17 seconds in front of her. Lindsey also swam the 500 free in which she finished in 6.12.24. Lindsey finished just in front of Nicole Roberts of Moline, the same she had lost to in the Morrison/ Moline duel.

Katie Kuehl swam the 500 along with Lindsey. Her time was 6:59.03, her season’s best. Katie broke her goal of seven minutes easily. She was close to Carrie Hale of Clinton, as she kept all of her 50 splits close to a 43.

Megan was the only Morrison swimmer to swim the 100-yard backstroke. She placed twelfth with a time of 1:11.00. She beat out Kate Eberle of Clinton by 0.24, the length of a fingernail.

Ann Schaefer had a time of 1:25.29 in the 100 breaststroke. She led Tara Shaffer of Rock Island by 0.13 seconds. Ann came close to beating Rachel Cullen of Galesburg, as she only lost to her by a third of a second.

The final personal best time of the day came from the 400 freestyle relay. They ended up placing ninth with a time of 4:38.86. The swimmers who swam this personal best were: Megan Tenboer, Katie Kuehl, Michelle Bos, and Ann Schaefer.

To beat six other teams in a large meet, like the UT Invitational, just goes to show how hard the Fillies have worked. Even though in a sense they are handicapped compared to other teams, they showed the determination to succeed. Sixth place may not seem like a much to some people, but for the Fillies it’s a major accomplishment.

by anonymous
2003-10-20 08:40:49