Loyola’s Ella Tierney poses on the podium after winning the 500 freestyle at state meet. PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE HANDWERKER
Ella Tierney climbed out of a pool last weekend, placed her hands on her hips and exhaled.
The Loyola Academy senior then unleashed an emphatic “Whooooooooo!”
The moment took place on Nov. 20, after the conclusion of the 200-yard freestyle relay at the state swimming and diving meet at Evanston Township High School. Tierney, a University of Texas recruit, had just popped a 23.15 anchor split after relay legs from senior Olivia Andrew and juniors Cassidy Coughlin and Margaret Guanci. The crew’s third-place time of 1:34.87 was only part of a burgeoning story.
Tierney had won the previous event, the 500 free (in 4:48.45), and had to dash to pose for a picture with the other 11 500-free finalists and then dash back to the pool area to get ready for the 200 free relay.
“I’m not a sprinter,” Tierney said. “The 500 free, I guess, warmed me up for 50 (relay leg).”
About her 23.15 split in the 200 free…
Oak Park-River Forest sophomore Natalie Ungaretti had won the 50 free at state last weekend, in 23.31.
Not a sprinter, Ella?
“Huge,” Ramblers coach Mike Hengelmann said, sweat streaming down his face after celebrating Tierney’s magnificent back-to-back swims in the heat of a suddenly compelling team race. “What Ella did there, winning the 500 and then, only five minutes later, going 23.1 in the relay … huge. She changed the momentum of the meet for us. I couldn’t be happier for a swimmer than I am now. Wow, hard to describe what I’m feeling now.”
Loyola had jumped to fourth place (82 points) in the team standings after the 200 free relay. Tierney’s gold in the 500 was worth 16 points, and the 200 free crew’s effort supplied 24 team points.
Next up: the 100 backstroke.
Hengelmann got to watch Guanci and junior Shannon Kearney race for more points as championship-heat finalists. Kearney took third (55.42), Guanci fourth (56.59).
Twenty-three more team points. LA was now in second place, 34 points behind leader Rosary and nine points ahead of third-place Oswego East, with two events remaining.
“Top three is crazy,” Kearney said of her swim in the 100 back. “I was hoping for top six [before the start of the season]. Two years ago, my freshman year, I tapered for the conference meet and sat in the stands when our varsity won state.
“Watching that state meet,” she added, “drove me to get to where I am today.”
Entering the final race at state last weekend, LA was still in second place, only two points ahead of third-place OP-RF. But OP-RF’s 400 free relay had not qualified to swim at state. LA’s quartet — Coughlin, Andrew, Guanci and Tierney — had earned the fourth seed in the championship heat.
Each swam faster than 53-second splits, Tierney’s 50.65 pacing the group, and they collaborated for a runner-up time of 3:26.34.
The final team standings:
Rosary, 185.5 points.
Loyola Academy, 131.
Oswego East, 120.
“Not a dry eye in our [poolside bleacher] section after the 400 free relay,” Hengelmann said following the trophy ceremony. “There wasn’t a dry eye after Ella’s 500. We got spectacular efforts from so many today. Every girl was focused, determined to do anything to help the team get a trophy.”
LA hauled a state trophy home for the second time in three years. The program finished in the top five at state for the seventh year in a row.
“We all got together, before the start of the season, at a lake house in northwestern Illinois,” recalled Tierney, who established a pair of personal-best times (that 4:48.45 in the 500 free, plus her runner-up 1:47.24 in the 200 free) — not an easy double, especially for an athlete who churned for 1,700 hard yards during the two-day meet. “Team bonding. We talked. We wanted a team trophy. We weren’t interested in another fourth-place (the team’s finish at state in ’15).
“If you believe, you can achieve, right?”
Notable: LA senior Olivia Andrew was seeded 20th (1:53.74) in the 200 free after sectional weekend on Nov. 12. She finished sixth (1:52.02) in the event at state on Nov. 20, to go with her silver in the 100 butterfly (55.51). … Ramblers sophomore Sofia Vargas, seeded 15th in the 500 free, finished 12th (5:03.14) at state. The Ramblers’ 200 medley relay of Shannon Kearney, Sarah Pinkerton, Margaret Guanci and Cassidy Coughlin — juniors, all of them — also bettered its seed (18th) when it went 1:47.38, swift enough for 10th place. “One after another after another,” Ramblers coach Mike Hengelmann said of big swims, point-generating swims, from his girls throughout the meet.”
LA’s Ella Tierney races to a second-place finish in the 200 free at state. PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE HANDWERKER
The Ramblers pose with their second-place trophy. PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE HANDWERKER