[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 42 (Tuesday, March 27, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E461-E462]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               WILDKITS SWIM AWAY WITH STATE CHAMPIONSHIP

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 27, 2001

  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I wish to congratulate the Evanston 
Township High School swim team for winning this year's Illinois State 
championship. After more than 40 long years, the State swimming 
championship title is back in Evanston. And after the many hours of 
hard work in the pool and countless laps, this team's dedication to 
winning was finally rewarded.
  Led by Coach of the Year Kevin Auger, this year's outstanding and 
superbly talented Evanston Township High School swim team dominated the 
competition, broke state records, and swam away with the top prize. 
That was a proud moment for ETHS swimmers, coaches, faculty, and 
especially the parents of those remarkable student athletes. It was a 
very proud moment for all the residents of the city of Evanston and all 
Wildkit fans and alumni.
  I urge all members to read the following article from the Evanston 
Review on ETHS' great achievement, and to take a minute and read the 
names of the championship swim team members listed below.
  ETHS Team Members: Glen Anderson, Jamaal Applewhite, Peter Bloom, 
Nate Crocker, Brian Doyle, Justin Froelich, Taylor Hales, Alex Johnson, 
Alex Maass, Sean McCaffrey, Stuart Olsen, Terry Silkaitis, Stephen 
Skalinder, Will Vogel, Blake Wallace, Seth Weidman, and Brian Weiland.
  ETHS Coaches: Kevin Auger, Jim Blickenstaff, Chuck Fargo, Joey 
Hailpern, and Aaron Melnick.

                [From the Evanston Review, Mar. 1, 2001]

           Kits Snag First State Swim Title in Over 40 Years

                          (By Dennis Mahoney)

       Evanston freshman Alex Johnson brought his family's 
     favorite lawn ornament--a two-foot high plastic penguin--to 
     the Illinois High School Association state swimming and 
     diving finals Saturday at New Trier High School.
       ``It's always brought my family good luck, so I thought I'd 
     bring it along,'' Johnson said.
       But good luck isn't necessary at the state swim finals. The 
     cream always rises to the top.
       Led by the terrific trio of Terry Silkaitis, Sean McCaffrey 
     and Blake Wallace, Evanston's swim team ascended to the top 
     of the heap as the Wildkits captured their first state crown 
     since 1960 Saturday.
       Coach Kevin Auger's team left no doubt about the outcome 
     with a sizzling performance during Friday's preliminary 
     competition, then breezed to a team total of 139 points and 
     easily outdistanced runner-up St. Charles East (110).
       Silkaitis defended his individual championship in the 200-
     yard freestyle event, and also swam with the victorious 200 
     and 400 freestyle relay teams as part of a dominating 
     performance by the Wildkits.
       ``Winning that last relay (in a school record 3:06.93) was 
     just the icing on the cake for us,'' said Auger after his 
     celebratory dip in the New Trier pool. ``This just feels 
     awesome. These guys worked so hard and it's just great to see 
     this senior class accomplish this.
       ``For them to handle the pressure the way they did was just 
     tremendous. Our big three swam virtually perfect Friday, and 
     I told the guys we had to win yesterday to win it today.''
       ``Even after the sectional I didn't think this was 
     possible. It feels awesome, but it hasn't really sunk in 
     yet,'' said Silkaitis. ``It definitely was a nerve-wracking 
     weekend. But I knew what I had to do--and I did it.''
       The splendid senior almost pulled off a pair of individuals 
     wins. He put together impressive back-to-back swims in the 
     200--with a prelim time of 1:38.42 and a finals time of 
     1.38.36, both personal bests--and won the title by almost two 
     seconds.
       And he responded to a big challenge in the 100 butterfly, 
     where Champaign Central stud Dan Trupin was the odds-on 
     favorite--until Silkaitis broke the state record of 49.54 
     with a time of 48.96 in the prelims.
       That threw a scare into Trupin, who responded by re-setting 
     the record at 48.69 Saturday. Silkaitis settled for second 
     best at 49.34.
       ``It was nice to win the 200 again, especially because this 
     is my senior year,'' Silkaitis said. ``Today was definitely 
     harder than in the prelims. I'd have said no way coming into 
     the meet that I could go a couple of 1:38s, but after 
     yesterday I thought I could do it again. I felt good today.
       ``Was I disappointed in the fly? Not at all. If you're 
     going to lose, lose to the best. I knew Trupin would be there 
     and I just gave it everything I could.''
       Also producing points for the new state champs--with 
     legendary coach Dobbie Burton, who led the Wildkits to five 
     state titles in the 1950s, watching from the stands--were 
     McCaffrey (fourth in the 200 freestyle, second in the 100 
     freestyle), Wallace (sixth in the 50 and sixth in the 100), 
     Glenn Anderson (11th in the 100 backstroke) and the medley 
     relay unit of Anderson, Justin Froelich, Taylor Hales and 
     Seth Weidmann that finished 12th.
       Both of Evanston's relay triumphs turned out to be the 
     fastest times in the country this season, Silkaitis, 
     Weidmann, Wallace and McCaffrey beat out rival New Trier with 
     a winning time of 1:24.90 that was actually slower than their 
     prelim effort (1:24.72).
       The same foursome finished with a flourish in the 400. It 
     marked the first time the Wildkits have won that event in 
     their history.
       McCaffrey's decision to participate in shorter races this 
     season (he placed eighth last year in the 500 free) paid off. 
     He wasn't happy with another fourth place finish in the 200 
     but came on strong after that. His splits were a 20.5 on the 
     shorter relay and an incredible 45.5 on the 400.
       ``It was obvious to me the 500 was going to be harder with 
     all those fast young kids coming up,'' said the Wildkit 
     senior. ``The 100 proved to be a better race for me.
       ``I trained hard and lifted a lot of weights this year to 
     prepare for this. I knew this would be a fast race, but I 
     didn't know it would be this fast (a state record 44.40 by 
     winner Matt Grevers of Lake Forest). I knew first place was 
     out of the question there. I was just trying to get some team 
     points.''
       So was Wallace, a junior who established himself as one of 
     the state's top sprinters.
       ``My individual swims weren't what I wanted, but the relays 
     were awesome!'' he said. ``We were so pumped up for that 400 
     even though we already had the meet won. We wanted the state 
     record (3:05.84), but we couldn't quite get it.
       ``Yesterday I felt a lot of pressure to make it into the 
     top six (in the 50 and 100). I did what I had to do. I think 
     coach Auger deserves so much credit. He had us swimming just 
     as hard in practice as we did in the meets. And the taper was 
     right on.''
       Good luck may have had something to do with Evanston's 
     title after all. The school was fortunate to land Auger, who 
     also coaches the girls team, via the Wildkit Swim 
     Organization club.
       He landed the full-time club position two years before 
     taking the helm at the high school and worked with some of 
     the current Kits as pre-teens.
       ``I'm thankful the WSO reached out to a remote place like 
     Canada to sell me on coming to this place,'' Auger said. 
     ``They wanted

[[Page E462]]

     to see the program get back to where it was when Dobbie was 
     coaching.
       ``This was in the works when I first saw this group of 
     kids. I'm a big believer in hard work getting you where you 
     want to go, and my philosophy was we won't be out-worked. 
     This year the whole team got behind that philosophy.
       ``I wouldn't have come here if I didn't believe the 
     potential was here to win a state championship. All I did was 
     convince them they were capable of doing it, and give them 
     the work to back it up.''

     

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