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38 | November 22, 2017 | The Homer Horizon SPORTS
homerhorizon.com
Merk leads young Porters team at state
Neil Milbert
Freelance Reporter
A disappointing experience
for Lockport’s Lindsey
Merk in the IHSA Swimming
and Diving state finals
at New Trier on Saturday,
Nov. 18, was offset by the
realization that she has two
more seasons left in her
budding high school career.
After finishing third in
the 100-yard butterfly as a
freshman, this time Merk
had to settle for sixth with
a 55.65 clocking. Then, she
re-entered the water after
exiting following completion
of the event and was
disqualified from her other
scheduled race, the consolation
final of the 100-yard
backstroke.
Although the sophomore
was disappointed, she
wasn’t distraught.
“Overall, I’m happy with
my season,” Merk said.
“Successful or not, competing
in the state meet is a
great experience. I enjoyed
it.”
In helping Lockport win
the sectional meet it hosted,
Merk qualified for the butterfly
in 57.68 and the backstroke
in 57.99. In the state
meet preliminaries on Friday,
Nov. 17, she improved
her respective times to
55.39 and 56.88 to advance
the finals.
“There definitely are
things to celebrate,” Lockport
coach Grant Ferkaluk
said. “She made a mistake
[in re-entering the pool].
When you make a mistake,
you learn from it and go
from there. It’s not the end
of the world.
“Lindsey is a fantastic
kid, and a fantastic swimmer
who works really hard.
She wanted to finish better
than she did today, but she
dominated most of this season
and the girls followed
her lead. Now, she has to focus
on getting stronger and
faster and making a higher
finish a priority.”
Ferkaluk will have a lot
of talent coming back next
season, as the team was represented
in the state meet by
two individuals, Merk and
junior Emily Johnson, in individual
events and the 200-
yard medley relay and 400-
yard freestyle relay teams.
Johnson swam in the 200-
yard and 100-yard freestyle
events in the preliminaries
but failed to advance to the
finals. The relay teams also
were unable to reach the finals.
“Emily had a great Sectional
[with times of 1:53.89
and 52.72],” Ferkaluk said.
“We also are looking for another
junior, Oliwia Wolek,
and a sophomore, Alexis
Webb [both of whom were
Sophomore Lindsey Merk finished sixth at the IHSA State Finals in the 100-yard butterfly
Saturday, Nov. 18, at New Trier. Geoff Stellfox/22nd Century Media
on the relay teams], to be an
important part of our team
next season.
“We should be really
good. We don’t lose a whole
lot, and I have some girls
waiting in the wings to take
the spots vacated by our seniors,
Molly Gerches and
Kayley Uy.”
Three other South Suburban
schools — Homewood-
Flossmoor Sectional champion
Lincoln-Way East,
Lincoln-Way Central and
Sandburg — also had swimmers
competing in the state
meet, but none of them had
contestants who made the
cut for the final day.
Lincoln-Way East senior
Makayla Varga came close
to succeeding in the 100-
yard butterfly — 12 swimmers
advanced, and Varga
finished 14th.
“Makayla always will be
one I’ll remember,” coach
Kate Fingello Gabey said.
“She had a great career and
finished 13th as a freshman
and sophomore, 11th last
year and then 14th this year.
She always was just on the
cusp.”
Gabey had two others
competing as individuals on
the first day — sophomore
Braelyn Binkowski in the
100-yard butterfly and 100-
yard backstroke, and junior
diver Alyssa Rudsinski.
“Braelyn qualified last
year in the 100 fly, and I
think for her, that was a big
shock,” Gabey said. “I don’t
think she believed she could
do that as a freshman, but I
believed she could.
“This year, she had her
best times in both the butterfly
and backstroke in the
sectionals. She was hoping
to have a little bit more left
this weekend, but neither
she nor Makayla were what
they were the weekend before.
Not only our girls, but
a lot of girls on other teams
put so much adrenaline and
energy into the sectionals
that it was hard to come
back a week later and keep
it going.”
Lincoln-Way East’s 200-
yard medley relay team also
failed to make the cut following
a strong showing in
the sectional.
Varga and Reis Parkinson,
who was a member
of the relay team, were the
only seniors on the state
tournament squad.
“Reis was a great kid to
coach, but I only coached
her the last two years,”
Gabey said. “We had the
situation in our district
where it was realigned after
Lincoln-Way North closed,
and she was there for her
first two years.”
Lincoln-Way Central is
another school that is graduating
only two seniors —
relay team swimmers Julia
Signorelli and Kiera Bulger
— from its state tournament
contingent.
“Kiera and Julia came
over from Lincoln Way-
East when Lincoln-Way
North closed,” coach Pat
Shaughnessy said. “That
was a big opportunity for
them, and they took advantage
of it. They were able to
compete in state in relays
the last two years.”
Signorelli and Bulger
swam on the 200-yard and
400-yard relay teams.
Ten Porters make college commitments official
Submitted by Lockport
Township High School
Ten Lockport Township
High School athletes made
their college choices official
Nov. 13 at LTHS’ Fall Signing
Day.
The signing day was for
the Lockport athletes who
will be going on to compete
athletically at NCAA Division
I or Division II schools
next year. Students from
four different sports signed,
with six softball players
pledging their college commitment.
The student-athletes who
participated in signing day
were as follows:
John Meyer (Track &
Field), University of Michigan
Connor McCarthy (Track
& Field), Southern Illinois
University at Edwardsville
Jack Randall (Tennis),
Western Michigan University
Taylor Herschbach (Softball),
Valparaiso University
Gracie Voulgaris (Softball),
University of Maryland
Taylor Shingler (Softball),
Maryville University
Courtney Schoolcraft
(Softball), University of
Southern Indiana
Elly Hagen (Softball), University
of Southern Indiana
Tara McElligott (Softball),
University of Illinois
at Chicago
JoDee Kovanda (Volleyball),
University of West
Florida