In the 26-year history of the Chicago Smelts, a predominantly gay swimming club, the team recorded a first, literally, at the 2015 Illinois Masters Swimming Association ( ILMSA ) meet, held April 10-12 at the Pleasant Prairie RecPlex in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, an event co-hosted by the Lake Forest and Libertyville Swim Clubs.
There were 36 teams, with about 630 overall swimmers, almost all from Illinois, along with a few competitors from Indiana and Wisconsin. The meet included 3,400 individual races spread over 42 races … and the Smelts won the state meet for the first time in team history.
The Smelts had a great meet in 2013 and finished second last year. Winning the title this time was "a treasured occasion," said Christopher Barrett Politan, who lives in Chicago's Lake View neighborhood and is the Smelts' competition coach.
Politan is the executive director of the Northalsted Business Alliance and also runs a philanthropic advisory firm. And this is his third year with the Smelts. He didn't swim in the state meet, but rather, watched, coordinated and of course guided the Smelts' 112-member team. The Smelts' state team ranged in age from 18 to 82 and about 90 percent fall under the LGBT banner.
"Swimming is about putting in the work. You have to get in every day and commit to swimming the laps and making perfect those things requiring correction," Politan said. "Each of the folks who lead the Smelts played an invaluable part in creating an environment for success. The leadership of the Smelts [is] Michael Thiry, Vicki Bolf, LeMikas Lavender, Steve Figg, and Allison Lloyd, along with the team's coaches Clay Rehrig, Matt Trauner, Chris Layton, Heidi Kafka, Steve Gilberg, Mark Stori, Seth Hoff and Adam Parker. [They] really prepared the team for success over the course of the year.
"With that infrastructure in place, I was pretty confident that the work would speak for itself."
Politan said the state title led to "elation and relief."
"Having spent a year thinking about what could have been done better, I was relieved to win and humbled to be the smallest part of that victory," he said. "Over the course of three days, I witnessed swims that I could have never predicted. I saw staggering time drops from athletes in their 60s and remarkable lifetime best swims from athletes in their early 20s.
"Each of the 112 athletes rose to the challenge of trying to win the first of these in our team's history."
Politan noted that one of the event's surprises came on the first day of the meet, when the 1650-yard freestyle race was held. "I was astounded to see that the 40 swimmers who had competed in that event dropped an accumulated 50 minutes of time from their seeds," he said. "This is in a sport where races are won by hundredths of a second. There were folks who dropped five to 10 minutes from their previous best [times, which was] amazing."
In the final event, the women's 200 Medley Relay, all of the swimmers not in that heat stood along the side of the pool and on the bulkhead, and for two minutes or so chanted in support—"a truly inspiring scene," Politan said.
The team celebrated the title at SoFo Tap in Andersonville.
"There were so many truly amazing performances," in the state meet, Politan said. "Choosing one would seem like a Sophie's Choice moment. That said, if pressed I would say that, as a coach, I am always moved by the silent strength that some swimmers possess. That intuitive sense of internal purpose is astounding. One person on our team who embodies that is Rudy Espino. When he steps up to swim, one understands the beauty of swimming when done effortlessly."
The Smelts had many newcomers this season, including Eric Chiu, who set three ILMSA State Records—in the 50-yard butterfly, 100-yard backstroke and the 100-yard Individual Medley.
"I was thrilled that our relays, of which there were 69 out of a possible 72, dominated those events, including great performances [from the] record-setting women's 35+ Free Relay comprised of Dana Boulukos, Gabrielle Chang, Heidi Kafka and Kate Lorenz."
In total, a whopping 100 first-place swims were recorded by the Smelts, including 11 first-place swims in the 400 Individual Medley.
The Smelts also claimed awards, presented to the high point winners of each gender, in each age bracket. The Smelts had eight high point winners: Justin Fernandez ( male, 18-24 ) Natascha Mangan ( female, 25-29 ), Eric Chiu ( male, 25-29 ), Allison Lloyd ( female, 30-34 ), Hanno Ahonen ( male, 30-34 ), Gabrielle Chang ( female, 35-39 ), Heidi Kafka ( female, 50-54 ) and Phil Dodson ( male, 60-64 ).
"As a member of the community and as someone who has coached LGBT teams elsewhere, I think that [this title believed to be] the first LGBT team to win this in Illinois, while very important, is also less important then the Smelts winning their first state championship.
"The team is comprised of extraordinarily strong and talented LGBT athletes, but more importantly, it is composed of athletes willing to support one another regardless of their gender identity, age or race. The Smelts are a community and that community won its first state meet."
And they did so in convincing fashion.
"The margin [of victory] was really incredible," Politan said. "Last year, our team finished second by a mere 24 points. Those 24 points were a huge motivator as we geared up for this meet, beginning as early as last April. In fact, 24-points became a running mantra for the team.
"In a sport that is often measured by hundredths of a second, to be victorious by 691 points, [that] is truly astonishing and a testament to the incredible hard work of all of the Smelts, both those in attendance at the meet and those folks who were unable to make it. Each and every Smelt contributed to this victory in a meaningful and substantive way."
