Westhaven may not be ready to vault to the top of the Midwest Swim Conference standings, but is there some good news these days for the Wave.
After placing last in the nine-team conference last year, Westhaven is showing signs of improvement under first-year head coach Travis Von Alst.
Von Alst, 20, will be a junior at the University of Illinois. A graduate of Althoff High School, he started swimming at age 5 for Sundowners and moved to Kings Point when Sundowners closed. He swam for the Stingrays until he was 18 and was an assistant coach at Westhaven last summer under Catherine Gavin. He also swam during the winter for YOSI (YMCA of Southern Illinois).
Von Alst inherits a team that usually finishes at or near the bottom of the conference standings, due in large part to a lack of numbers. But that might be starting to change.
"Last year we had about 45 kids and this year we have 75," said Von Alst, who is assisted by Erin Furmanek. "It was a shock when I came to the first practice and there were all these people I didn't know. It's a lot of younger kids and I sent out a lot of e-mails during the year telling parents to recruit other families and I guess it worked. We've got the numbers now - we just need to work on technique a little more."
Westhaven took a 1-3 record into Tuesday's home meet against Hilltoppers, with a win over Scott Air Force Base and losses to Highland, St. Clair Country Club and six-time defending champion Kings Point. The Wave play host to O'Fallon on Thursday and finish the regular season with meets July 12 at Dorchester and July 14 at Freeburg. The conference meet is July 23 at O'Fallon.
"Last year we didn't have enough kids to have relays for several of the age groups, but I have a lot more flexibility this year," Von Alst said. "I can move them around and put them in different events and see what they're good at. It's a lot easier to put a meet together when you have the numbers."
Top swimmers for the Wave include Brandon Herling (13-14 boys), Andrea Dauphin (11-12 girls), Lauren Hurst (8-and-under girls), Josh Gregowitz (15-18 boys) and Joseph Huelskamp (15-18 boys)
"Brandon has been awesome for us - he's undefeated so far," Von Alst said. "Josh started swimming two or three years ago and he's one of the best swimmers on the team now. He and Joseph both swim year-round for YOSI and you can tell they have the drive and the talent.
"Our 15-18 boys are strong, but we don't have a lot of them. We have only four 8-and-under boys, so if one of them is gone, we can't have a relay. We also struggle with our 11-12 boys because people are in other sports and we have only five of them.
"We have a lot of girls, so the hard part is making everybody happy. We have about 15 girls each in the 9-10 and 11-12 age groups and when each person can only swim three events for points, it's hard to make a decision as to where to put them."
Von Alst is anxious to see what the team can accomplish in the remainder of the regular season and in the conference meet.
"I'm hoping to win a few more meets," he said. "We're around the same number as some of those teams now, which gives us a little more of an advantage."
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