[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 4] [Extensions of Remarks] [Pages 4754-4755] [From the U.S. 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 [[Page 4755]] 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 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.'' ____________________