[Nov. 15 update: Lisa Boyce and Milee Nelson advanced to the IHSA state finals with sectional victories today, and the Uni girls placed fifth overall. Boyce won the 100 freestyle (52.19) and 100 backstroke (58.71), and Nelson won the 500 freestyle (5:25.70). The two-day state meet begins Friday at Evanston Township High School.]

URBANA — With IHSA sectionals just a day away, the Uni High girls swim team can look back on what has already been a successful year.

Although they stress personal improvement over wins, the Killer Whales have nevertheless finished with higher scores in every single one of their meets this year compared to 2007. They are also on the verge of sending at least one of their members to the state finals for the first time since 1994.

Junior Lisa Boyce, freshman Milee Nelson, and faster times overall have propelled the Killer Whales forward. Here's a look at some of the factors behind their success.

Lisa Boyce: Best in the Area … and Beyond

Junior Lisa Boyce swims the 100-yard backstroke at the Centennial Charger Invitational; Boyce went on to win the race in a pool-record time of 57.75 seconds. Gargoyle photo by Revathi Maturi (click here to enlarge)

Junior Lisa Boyce, in her first year on the Uni team, has quickly proven herself to be one of the leading high school swimmers in the state. She has yet to lose a race, and her ability to constantly finish first has bolstered Uni in many meets.

How dominant has Boyce been this year?

In the most recent News-Gazette listing of area girls swimming and diving leaders, Boyce has the fastest times in seven of the eight non-diving individual events: 200-yard freestyle (1:55.74), 200 individual medley (2:09.99), 50 freestyle (24.35), 100 butterfly (57.88), 100 freestyle (52.14), 500 freestyle (5:16.07), and 100 backstroke (57.64).

The only event she doesn't own locally is the 100 breaststroke, in which she ranks fourth (1:13.01), behind swimmers from Central (Emma Newman), Urbana (Jennifer Hill), and Centennial (Jane Black).

Even more impressively, Boyce's times in six of those events are faster than the automatic qualifying standards needed to advance to the Nov. 21-22 IHSA state meet at Evanston Township High School. She lags only in the 500 freestyle and 100 breaststroke, and then not by much.

Boyce has broken pool records this season at every pool that had records to be broken. At the Danville pool, for example, she now holds four records out of the nine that exist: the 200 free, 100 butterfly, 100 free, and 50 free.

She set her most recent pool record Saturday at Illinois State University's Horton Pool during the Normal U-High Invitational, winning the 100 back in 57.64.

Remarkably, the record she broke (58.07) had been set just the night before by University of Illinois swimmer CeCe Marizu. This was the second college pool record she's topped.

The junior has received a lot of well-deserved attention for her success with various photos and short stories about her in The News-Gazette. She was also named the paper's female athlete of the week on Sept. 25.

Boyce, whose brother Robert graduated from Uni in 2007, said she started swimming as a child because "my brother started swimming, and I did gymnastics in the building next door to him, so I wanted to start swimming when I was old enough."

This fall she decided to swim for Uni instead of the Champaign County YMCA Heat, formerly known as the Aquachiefs. Boyce said she made that decision because she "really wanted to try out high school swimming because it's a completely different experience and everyone said that it was lots of fun being on the Uni team."

Boyce heads toward another first-place finish. Gargoyle photo by Revathi Maturi (click here to enlarge)

She will return to the Heat after her school season ends.

Not surprisingly, Boyce is a nationally ranked swimmer.

“My highest ranking this year was 22nd in the nation in the 100 LCM [long course meters, meaning that the race was swum in a 50m pool] backstroke,” she noted.

In October, Boyce received more national recognition when she was named to USA Swimming's 2007-08 Women's Scholastic All-America Team. She and recent Uni graduate Michelle Mehnert were both named Scholastic All-Americans; Mehnert is now a freshman on the U of I women's swim team.

Boyce has competed in YMCA Swimming and Diving National Championships, also known as "Y Nats," for the past two years.

"Neither year did I do as well as I had hoped for, but the meet was such a great experience anyway," said Boyce.

This year Boyce says that she will be swimming in either the Junior or Senior Short Course Nationals in December.

"I qualified for these meets for the first time over the summer," she said. "They are very different from Y Nationals, which is a meet with all of the YMCA-registered teams in the nation. While Y Nationals is a very fast meet, Junior Nationals has much faster qualifying times because anyone in the nation can compete there if they get the qualifying times (it's not limited to YMCA teams only). The qualifying times for Senior Nationals are even faster than those for Junior Nationals. I am very excited for the chance to compete at one of these meets."

Although she says she doesn’t have time to do much more than swim when she's not doing schoolwork, Boyce declared that she also enjoys singing.

"I’ve been in chorus for four years, and if I didn’t swim, I would have tried out for madrigals this year," she said.

When asked about her demeanor at swim meets, Boyce commented: "I am very talkative at swim meets. If I'm not talking to someone, I'm probably listening to pump-up music. The only time I'm quiet at a meet is right before a race, when I'm getting mentally prepared to swim."

Boyce proclaims that she is a dreamer.

"I set my goals really high. Usually I don't reach them, but that makes it even better when I do. But I also set more realistic goals, so that I have something a little more reasonable to use as motivation."

Looking ahead to Saturday's sectional meet at Centennial, she states that her "first goal would be to make state, and if I make state I want to finish in the top six."

Considering her times this season, she could qualify for state in at least six individual events, and perhaps even all eight. But on Saturday she will concentrate on the 100 back and 100 freestyle, along with the 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay.

The last time a Uni female swimmer made state was in 1994, when both Megan Flynn, a senior, and Christine Keller, a freshman, qualified. Keller finished eighth in the 50 freestyle and fourth in the 100 backstroke, while Flynn finished seventh in the 200 freestyle and fourth in the 500 freestyle.

Adam Reynolds was the last Uni swimmer to make it to state; he qualified for the boys meet in February 1998. He finished third in the 200 free (1:43.49) and fifth in the 500 free (4:45.07).

Although this is her first year on the Uni swim team, Boyce is no stranger to the school. Not only is her brother an alum, so is her mother, Kazuko Suzuki, who graduated in 1980.

And after she becomes an alum herself in 2010?

"I definitely want to swim in college," Boyce said. "My top pick right now is Berkeley."

Milee Nelson: Freshman Sensation

Freshman Milee Nelson swims the 100 back. Gargoyle photo by Revathi Maturi (click to enlarge)

Another critical component of the team this year has been freshman Milee Nelson, who transferred to Uni this year from Countryside.

With three years of Uni High swimming still ahead of her, Nelson shows great potential. Already she has recorded some of the top five times, since 2000, among Uni swimmers in the 200 free, 200 individual medley, 500 free, and 100 back.

Among area swimmers, Nelson's best time in the 500 free — 5:29.28 — is second only to Boyce's (5:16.07). Since Boyce won't be competing in the 500 at sectionals, there is an excellent chance that Nelson will advance to state in that event.

Like Boyce, Nelson is temporarily "on leave" from the YMCA Heat. In fact, she said she chose to swim for Uni because "on my old team [the Heat] all the other girls are on high school swimming, so I would have been the only one not doing it."

After the end of the season Nelson plans to go back to the Heat.

She said she started swimming because her mom made her, but she now enjoys it. She remarked that she enjoys Uni swimming because of the people and the coaches.

"I do a lot of reading, and I watch a lot of movies," Nelson remarked when asked about her interests. She says that her favorite book is "Percy Jackson and the Olympians," while her favorite movie is "Because I Said So," starring Diane Keaton and Mandy Moore.

Described by others as shy but energetic, Nelson is constantly seen wandering the second-floor hallway listening to her iPod and eating soup during lunch.

"Yeah, I eat a lot of soup," she said.

According to Nelson, she listens to music to calm herself.

"I have a lot of rock on [my iPod]. I like Fall Out Boy and the All-American Rejects."

Her poolside demeanor is a bit more laid-back than Boyce's.

"At meets I listen to music and talk to people to relax and stay quiet to focus," she explained.

When asked about her future, Nelson said she would like to swim in college, preferably for the Texas Longhorns.

Team Improvement

Junior Erika Belmont, an important part of Uni's top relay team, swims the 100 breaststroke. Gargoyle photo by Revathi Maturi (click to enlarge)

Besides newcomers Nelson and Boyce, the rest of the team has also improved quite a lot this season.

"I think that the team has done really well this year," said junior Erika Belmont, in her third season as a Uni swimmer.

"I mean it's not just the success that Milee and Lisa have brought along, but the other new swimmers have gotten really fast, and it's been exciting to watch that happen. There are also a lot of people getting PRs [personal records]."

Fellow junior Sian Best feels that Boyce and Nelson "didn't change the team dynamic because they are only two people," but she believes that they have "boosted the team morale, as the swim team is receiving more attention now and is able to compete in big meets with other teams."

According to head coach Howie Schein, the Killer Whales are recording fast times this season, improving their times, and swimming faster than last year.

Junior Sian Best, another member of Uni's top relay squad, swims the 100 back. Gargoyle photo by Revathi Maturi (click to enlarge)

Schein attributes the improvement to many different reasons. For starters, he noted, "We have a stable pool situation and can practice on a regular basis for a defined time period each weekday morning."

Another reason, according to Schein, was the addition of swimmers with competitive experience, such as Nelson and Boyce, who were able to replace graduating seniors, and a gung ho group of swimmers who are new to the sport but have rapidly improved.

Schein also believes that the team has "great team spirit, group work ethic, and great assistant coaches" (Elizabeth Gansen, Mallory Meyer, and 2004 Uni grad Stevie Schein).

In all, 10 Uni swimmers will compete at sectionals on Saturday:

200-Yard Medley Relay: Erika Belmont (jr), Lisa Boyce (jr), Sian Best (jr), Milee Nelson (fr); alternates: Maritza Mestre (jr), Amalia Dolan (fr), Deborah Ladd (sr)
200-Yard Freestyle: Milee Nelson (fr), Amalia Dolan (fr)
200-Yard Individual Medley: Deborah Ladd (sr), Anna Rubakhina (fr)
50-Yard Freestyle: Erika Belmont (jr), Elizabeth Allen (jr)
100-Yard Butterfly: Sian Best (jr), Anna Rubakhina (fr)
100-Yard Freestyle: Lisa Boyce (jr), Maritza Mestre (jr)
500-Yard Freestyle: Milee Nelson (fr), Amalia Dolan (fr)
200-Yard Freestyle Relay: Elizabeth Allen (jr), Erika Belmont (jr), Deborah Ladd (sr), Maritza Mestre (jr); alternate: Anna Rubakhina (fr)
100-Yard Backstroke: Lisa Boyce (jr), Sian Best (jr)
100-Yard Breaststroke: Erika Belmont (jr), Diana Liu (jr)
400-Yard Freestyle Relay: Lisa Boyce (jr), Milee Nelson (fr), Sian Best (jr), Deborah Ladd (sr); alternates: Maritza Mestre (jr), Amalia Dolan (fr)

Although Boyce and Nelson have their strongest chances to qualify for state in individual events, the team of Belmont, Boyce, Best, and Nelson has been impressive throughout the season in all three relay events. They will race together in the 200 medley on Saturday and will bear watching.

All in all, Uni High swimming has much to look forward to, not just in the short term but beyond the 2008 season. Next year's team will miss the leadership provided by senior captains Deborah Ladd, Natsuki Nakamura, and Lor Sligar, but a whole lot of familiar faces will be back.

For the time being, though, there's still plenty of swimming to be done and records to be broken. See you at sectionals — and don't forget state!

From left: Lisa Boyce, Sian Best, and Erika Belmont have combined with Milee Nelson to give Uni one of the best relay teams in the area. Gargoyle photo by Revathi Maturi (click to enlarge)