Girls Swimming: ‘Diamond in the rough’

Updated: December 5, 2011 6:58PM

CROWN POINT — The resonating applause began immediately. Then followed by bellowing verbal praise.

Throughout the filled stands of Crown Point high school‘s natatorium, the fans made their appreciation of Aly Tetzloff known.

There, at the center of attention, was a newbie to the Bulldogs girls’ swimming team, who had just shattered what was the second-oldest record at the school. Not since 1998 had the Bulldogs time of 58.41 seconds in the 100 butterfly been re-written. But amid the sights, sounds and emotions, the butterfly swimmer’s first response was to glance up at the board displaying the times.

Sure this feat was pretty astounding, especially since the freshman swam a 57.14 in her first ever home dual. And sure, the mark helped the Bulldogs draw within 14 points of the region’s top team, Chesterton, in a tight 100-86 loss. But first things first; Tetzloff stays on task until everything is final.

“I just pretty much get in my zone and don’t worry about somebody else (in the water), or try not to worry about somebody else,” Tetzloff said.

That very “zone” has other area coaches and competitors opening their eyes. In six individual races Tetzloff has five outright wins combined between the fly and the 100 back. Against some of the state‘s strongest athletes and upperclassmen, Tetzloff is flashing poise.

Given the Bulldogs’ telling 1-1-1 start, which began with a 93-93 tie against Munster (seventh in state in 2010) and a win over Michigan City before the Chesterton (fourth in state in 2010) dual, Bulldogs’ coach Bryon Angerman points to swimmers such as Tetzloff for the improvements over last year’s team (13th in state).

“I firmly believe a person like Aly is a diamond in the rough, even though she’s fast, she has a lot of potential,” Angerman said.

When the Bulldogs tied the Seahorses on Nov. 19, Tetzloff knocked down two other school records — backstroke and 200 medley relay. And against the deep-rooted Trojans her individual wins and contributions in relays culminated in four firsts. That push made things rather interesting as CP took seven firsts.

“The one thing that you can’t teach is talent and she has a lot of it,” Angerman said.

That early output from Tetzloff and sophomore Holly Schuster and senior Hannah Raspopovich, who both shined as freshmen, has added to a Bulldogs upswing. The youthful success can be directed tied to the strength of CP’s biggest feeder, the Crown Point Swim Club. In Tetzloff’s case she had four years with the club and actually began competitive swimming during kindergarten.

A look at the school records list speaks volumes about this club. John Krick has led the age group girls for the past five years. Since that time, all but one of the school records has been set by one of his pupils.

“Since he’s come here we’ve been fortunate to have the freshman coming in that we don’t really have to teach them swimming, we just have to train them at the high school level,” Angerman said.

So, while Tetzloff’s high school career has started out with a bang, a swimmer of her training yearns for more. While the school feats are nice, she wants to set CPHS pool records too. 

“Because it’s our pool, I think we need to be up there,” Tetzloff said of the fly and back records held by Munster‘s Brittany Gilbert.

As for Chesterton and Munster, Tetzloff and her No. 8 Bulldogs will see them again on Jan. 7 at the Highland Invite.

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.