A Banner Year for Rolling Meadows' Conic
Freshman Caps Fun Season with Program's First State Title in Backstroke
Fun was the primary objective for Vera Conic in her first season of high school swimming at Rolling Meadows.
How about an all-school assembly for her the first day back from Thanksgiving break?
“It was pretty fun,” she said with a laugh, “but kind of nerve-racking.”
A few nerves were worth the banner-unveiling celebration of a feat which had never been accomplished at Meadows. When Conic tied for first in the 100-yard backstroke at the state meet on November 12 she became the first girls swimming state champion in the school’s 50-plus year history.
“It was fun to come back to school and all my friends and teachers were so great,” Conic said. “I’m so appreciative of everything they’ve done for me. I would say it’s sunk in and it’s been good to celebrate with all my friends and family.
“I didn’t know about the banner and my goal mainly for this season was to have fun with teammates. To try my best. It wasn’t exactly what I was picturing my last meet to be like. I wasn’t hoping to win or anything like that so it was pretty cool.”
The manner in which Conic accomplished the banner could be considered a bit nerve-racking as well since she had to come from behind to finish in a dead heat with New Trier sophomore Tierney Lenahan at 55.09 seconds. Conic entered the state meet seeded 10th but she was the fastest swimmer in the Friday prelims at 54.59.
That put Conic in position to become Meadows’ first girls medalist since Kristin Belleson was fourth in the 50 free in 1992. She exceeded the program’s best finish of third by Deanna Conoscenti in the 500 free in 1984. The only other Mid-Suburban League girls state champion in the backstroke was Buffalo Grove’s Lori Spirek in 1980.
Meadows has two boys state champions in Andy Yetter (100 breaststroke in 1982) and Doug Hood (100 butterfly in 1991). Head coach Monika Chiappetta, in her 26th year coaching boys and girls swimming, also coached boys medalists Jake Barson, Josh Dellorto and Sam Keeley in the last decade.
“We never talked about winning,” Chiappetta said. “When they released the All-American times our goal was to get a full second under her best time. We knew going to state wouldn’t be an issue but we never spoke of a goal of getting first place. The goal was to make state and come back on Saturday.
“We focused on the daily grind and ‘what can I do today to make myself better for tomorrow.’ When she broke the first three records for the school, it was like, ‘She got another one.’ The goal we had was to swim faster than she came in and if that happened the rest would fall into place.”
Conic was hardly an unknown commodity when she arrived at Meadows. She had set an Illinois 11-12 age group record in the 200 back at 2:02.66.
“Coming in, everyone knew who she was and it was a delicate balance to give her what she needed and to help the team together,” Chiappetta said. “To Vera’s credit, she’s so humble and kind and outgoing it made my job easier. I also wanted Vera to experience what she hasn’t before with 30 girls in the same boat.”
Conic won the 100 back in 56.76 at the MSL meet and took second in the 200 individual medley. At the Elk Grove sectional she won the 100 back (56.84) and 200 IM (2:08.88).
And while Conic had big-meet experience, Chiappetta told her it would be different competing against girls with state meet experience in the frenetic atmosphere at the FMC Natatorium in Westmont.
“Vera hadn’t accomplished anything at this level yet,” Chiappetta said. “She was in the finals in junior nationals but she hasn’t had to fight and these girls are just that good. I told her, ‘You’ve never swam against these girls and they’re older.’ Although she’s accomplished, she’s accomplished with her peers at her age.”
The goal in the 200 IM was for Conic to swim her best time but she finished 18th in 2:09.16. Chiappetta gave her a pep talk before the 100 back.
“The IM didn’t go as we hoped, so I needed to show her how you have to fight for this and no one here is going to give it to her,” Chiappetta said. “I said, ‘You are who you are because you race to the end.’ She got into her Vera Conic way and I told her to go out real fast.”
The 200 IM turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Even though Conic said she is typically not a great prelim swimmer, she responded with the top 100 back time that was nearly a full second ahead of Lenahan.
“When she hit the first turn and came off the first turn I thought, ‘She’s doing very good. She’s doing it,’” Chiappetta said.
“It was a really big meet and I focused on what I can do to start off the day right and the race right,” Conic said. “I thought about all the things we’d worked on to make it to the end of the season.
“I was kind of nervous for the ‘2 IM,’ so it was good to have a race before the backstroke and to have a feel for racing in this meet since I never had before. It was a good stroke-out swim.”
Now she could focus solely on the backstroke where the only other finalist she knew was sophomore Maria Chung of Loyola, who finished third. The prelim swim had boosted Conic’s confidence.
“I was excited to be there,” Conic said. “My goal was to make it back on Saturday and once I did I thought I’d try my best to think of all the things to make it a good race. Of course I was nervous.”
Chiappetta also didn’t want those nerves overwhelming Conic. She told Conic to go hang out with her friends at the meet and have fun in the time leading up to her race.
They did talk about the difference between some of the competitors swimming for team points with Conic focused solely on individual success. Chiappetta felt good when she saw Conic start the race the way they hoped.
Midway through the race, Cheng led at 26.42 with Lenahan at 26.83 and Conic at 27.01. But Chiappetta liked what she saw from Conic.
“She had such a command of herself and feel for the water,” Chiappetta said.
Conic made up the gap and she and Lenahan touched at precisely the same time. Oddly enough the only other dead heats for a girls state swim title both occurred in the backstroke in 1991 and 1997.
“It was fun and there’s such a low chance of that happening,” Conic said. “I talked to her and we’re friends and it was really fun.”
Especially experiencing it with the support of her teammates. The balance Chiappetta strived to accomplish with Conic and the team was evident when nearly a dozen swimmers left school early Friday to attend meet with posters, glitter on their faces and a big “Fathead” picture of Conic.
“To have that big of a cheering section for one kid says a lot about Vera and her level of excellence made them want to be a part of it,” Chiappetta said.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been at a meet like that,” Conic said. “The atmosphere was that different and I’m so glad I had my friends there cheering me on.”
Now Conic is gearing up for the Speedo Winter Junior Championships meet starting Wednesday at the University of Texas and her club team’s state meet in March. Chiappetta wants her to work more on improvement in the breaststroke for the IM.
What Conic has done is pretty impressive since she has done the backstroke for only four years. She didn’t have a swimming background in her family and really liked basketball, which her dad played, while her mom was a team handball player. But all her friends were swimming so she decided to give it a try when she was 7.
There was just one part Conic didn’t initially enjoy.
“Her mom said she was learning how to swim and couldn’t stand being on her back and kept flipping over,” Chiappetta said with a laugh. “It’s funny that’s what earned her a state championship and funny that she hated the backstroke. It’s common for kids learning to swim because they feel they have a loss of control.”
The fun Conic had in her first season at Rolling Meadows also figures to become more common.