BY AARON PATTERSON
WINNETKA — Four years in the making, the dreams, goals and tireless training sessions of Danville High School seniors Lauren Drennan, Sunny Strader and Eden Jackowski will finally come to fruition at this weekend’s IHSA Girls Swimming and Diving state meet at New Trier High School.
It will be the third trip for Drennan — who is set to compete in the 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard butterfly and 400-yard freestyle relay — but the first for relay teammates Strader, Jackowski and freshman Kristin Verkler.
After qualifying in the 400 relay at last Saturday’s sectional meet with a school record time of 3 minutes, 42.87 seconds, Strader described the accomplishment as “surreal.”
For those keeping up with the Danville swimming program, it might not have come as such a surprise.
Strader and Drennan have their names on nine of the 10 school records, five of which have been set this year.
But helping set the 200 freestyle relay and the state-qualifying 400 freestyle relay records are Jackowski and Verkler.
Entering the season as a freshman, Verkler wasn’t even sure she would make the relay team, but has had no problems at all mixing in with the older swimmers.
“They were actually really excited to have her,” coach Jana Drennan said. “I think she was a little nervous coming in that she wouldn’t have a spot on those relays, and I wasn’t sure. She really proved herself. She works extremely hard. She’s going to have a tremendous four years here.”
Experiencing the best-ever sectional finish for a Danville girls team, and qualifying for state as a freshman leaves open the possibility for a rather successful high school career — one she is definitely looking forward to. And backing her all the way are her senior teammates.
“It’s a new experience, but it’s fun because these girls help motivate me and help me want to do better,” Verkler said. “(They tell me) just to try my best and not get your nerves worked up and just go out there and do what you can. It’s definitely going to help me (in the next three years).”
While Verkler has a promising career ahead of her, Jackowski was just glad to be back in the pool for her senior season after recovering from an injured shoulder that required surgery.
The injury sidelined Jackowski midway through her junior season.
“She hasn’t really swam competitively since last year about midseason when she was out, and I know that was tremendously difficult for her just not being a part of the team,” Drennan said. “She’s such a big part of our team. That was pretty difficult for her last year. She came back pretty strong. She had to trust it again.”
Missing half of a season was no doubt frustrating for Jackowski, but having a successful senior year likely made up for the missed time. More importantly might be finishing her high school career on a good note as she remains hopeful to continue her swimming career in college.
“I think I’m very proud of myself,” Jackowski said. “I didn’t think that I was going to be able to do as well as I did this season. I’m so excited that I actually was able to come back as well as I did.
“The confidence is way back. I have way more confidence than I ever had because of what I went through.”
The Vikings look forward to that confidence extending into the state meet which begins today with finals concluding on Saturday.
Lauren Drennan enters the state meet undefeated in the 100-yard butterfly, and has realistic expectations of finishing, at the very least, in the top 12.
With the 11th-best sectional qualifying time, she plans to shave nearly one second off of her time. Doing so would break her school record in the event of 57.58 seconds set last year.
“Her goal is to drop down to a 56 (second) fly, and I think that will pretty easily put her in the top six,” coach Drennan said. “That’s her goal. It’s nothing she can’t do. She’s pretty competitive.
“Sunny, Lauren and Eden came in together as freshmen, so it’s really nice to see them go out together and all get to go to state together. That’s the most exciting thing, really, that they get to do that together.”
