Swimmers Make Splash With Conference Title

The Oak Lawn girls swim team is young and athletic as can be seen by the number of freshmen and sophomores swimming on the varsity, but that does not mean they are inexperienced by any stretch of the imagination. If one adds in that this group of seniors has been together for their entire careers, it makes for something special. And last weekend, the Spartan swimmers proved all of that by winning the South Suburban Conference Red Championship.

“We went into the meet seeded 5th and we ended up winning the meet by 20 points,” said girls head swim coach TJ Zuzga. “These girls swam out of their minds. What was most impressive with this win was that there were no individual winners, but we won two out of the three relays.”

“The 200 Free Relay composed of Yara Ismail, Hannah Featherstone, Mary Kate Brennan, and Samantha Lopez broke the school record. This is a testament to the depth our team had and the competitive nature of these girls.” 

With a team featuring four seniors, two juniors, three sophomores and two freshmen, the Spartans swam an incredible meet in order to take home the hardware. Seniors Ismail, Andrea Zavala, Kelsey Townsend and Abbey Rzechula were the nucleus of the team. Other swimmers included juniors Lopez and Caryn Brzozowski, sophomores Shannon Mottl, Featherstone, Brianna Castrogiovanni, and freshmen Brennan and Annabelle Fritz.

“Also, this is a very special group,” Zuzga continued. “These seniors are my first class I had all four years and for them to accomplish this was awesome! It has been a very memorable season!”

Next up for the Spartans is the Illinois High School Association Sectional meet on November 17 at Lyons Township.