DGS' Selig savors final lap with classmates
By Bill Stone
Downers Grove South college-bound swimmer Jorie Selig wanted to continue the wonderful feeling from her greatest season as a senior.
Pure joy came from rejoining soccer for the first time since she was a freshman.
“I was wracking my brain trying to come up with a way I could enjoy the last couple of months of my senior year,” Selig said.
“I didn’t even think of playing soccer but someone brought it up to me. I was like, ‘Should I play soccer?’” I was still going to swim (in college), but at that point I really wanted to enjoy soccer. I really loved it freshman year, and I didn’t know if it would change.”
It hadn’t. Selig was having a great time reuniting with the Mustangs’ senior-heavy roster when the season came to a halt because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now her focus is transferring her swimming success at the NCAA Division II Colorado School of Mines (Golden, Colo.) and majoring in engineering.
“I was really disappointed when I heard that we’d have to postpone, and now we’re cancelled for real. I’m a competitive person, so I love playing soccer,” Selig said.
“I’m going to miss paying soccer so my heart really goes out to my (senior) friends. This is their last season, and they’re really talented and have so much skill.
“I know we have a really good team, and we’ll never know. I just really wish that we’d have that last season. I’ll miss playing soccer, but I’m already used to not having it. Other girls have been playing since they were 9, 10, all-year round.”
The Mustangs entered this season with high hopes, especially after back-to-back Class 3A regional titles. With such a talented and veteran group, losing this season hurt even further. That includes seven Mustangs who were varsity starters or contributed heavy minutes since they were freshmen and sophomores.
“This is a very special group of juniors and seniors who understood what it meant to be a varsity level athlete and the commitment and drive that is needed to be successful. They were living in the weight room, studying film and doing everything that they could from a preparation standpoint to make this season special,” Downers South coach Chris Hernandez responded.
“It was very difficult to say to (our seniors) that this -- their final year where their experience and talent combined with some talented underclassmen should come together to make it a very exciting year -- has been taken away from them. It was very hard to see the joy leave their faces when the realization set in that they would not be able to compete this season.”
Selig entered her senior swimming season with similar high expectations and fulfilled them -- and then some. Besides reaching state for the fourth time, Selig qualified in the maximum four events for the first time and achieved her first top-six, all-state honors with the sixth-place 200-yard freestyle relay team (1:35.52).
Perhaps even better, Selig also earned her first individual state berth ever in the 100 free (21st, 52:63). The 200-yard medley relay also was honorable mention all-state by reaching the consolation finals (11th, 1:46.16).
“Senior year I give so much credit to my team. We were really close and super successful before the end of season. It got us so motivated when sectionals and state came up. It was impossible for me to do bad,” Selig said.
“(The 200-yard freestyle relay state finals) was great there. I was a lot less nervous than I thought I would be. It was like, ‘Hey, we already made it. We’re top six no matter what.’ We swam our hearts out. We had fun. For me and the other seniors, that was our last high school race ever. We got top six at state so we’re happy with it. We probably should have done better, but we couldn’t be mad.”
Primarily because of swimming, Selig did not play soccer as a sophomore or junior. And because of swimming Selig wasn’t able to train for soccer full-time with the Mustangs for the two weeks of her comeback this preseason.
Selig simultaneously was training and tapering for the four-day Central Zone Speedo Sectional Championships, which began March 12 in Pleasant Prairie, Wis.
This was the final meet of her winter club swimming season with the Hornet Swim Club. As schedules and life in the U.S. began changing daily, almost hourly, because of the pandemic, the meet abruptly was cancelled.
“I could have been playing (soccer) the two weeks so that kind of stunk,” Selig said.
“(The swim meet) got cancelled Thursday afternoon. Some teams flew in from Nebraska, Kansas. They had to go right back home. It was a bummer.”
The next day came Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker’s edict to close the state’s schools, and the Mustangs’ soccer season was put on hold.
“I was going to be able to play (full-time) three days later,” Selig said.
“I only played two weeks before the quarantine, but that time made me happy and remember who I was. In all, I basically did it for fun and for memories. I thought I was going to be done. I always see my sophomore coach (Mike) McGinnis in the hallways. Every time he’s like, ‘Hey, you coming back this year?’ One time it hit me. Maybe I will come back this year.”
Leaving soccer never was easy. As a freshman swimmer, Selig already had reached state with all three relays and was looking for more.
The combination of soccer with offseason swimming training and school was becoming chaotic. Soccer unfortunately had to go – or at least be put on hold.
“It was probably one of the hardest decisions I’ve made. Swimming is a very time-consuming, difficult sport and I knew I wanted to swim in college. When it gets down to it, I believed that I was better at swimming,” Selig said.
“I would say it (soccer) definitely helped (my swimming success). Freshman year I would go from school right to soccer practice right to dryland, which is working out (for swimming) on land, and then actual swim practice. I would get home at like 9:30 at night and have all of my homework. In the end, it left me less stressed. I was able to focus on what I wanted to do as a swimmer and a student.”
Once Selig considered returning to soccer, she never took for granted that she could simply just come back, especially as a senior. And if she did, maybe there wouldn’t necessarily be a guaranteed roster spot, at least on varsity.
When an attempted comeback was proposed, Hernandez quickly reassured Selig.
“When I told him the first time, I wanted to play but I didn’t know if he would allow me back on the team. He’s like, ‘You’re on the team.’ It was like a (team) joke, ‘Love to have you on the varsity team,’” Selig said.
“In our program we will always look to find a place for those that wish to become involved,” Hernandez responded.
“Jorie is an outstanding athlete and an even better person. Multi-sport athletes are not as common as they used to be. Over the last two years we have been trying to get Jorie to return to the program.
“We wished her the best (in swimming) and shared that she will always be welcome back. Although we were unable to see Jorie compete in any contests this spring season, we were ecstatic to have her commitment, mentality and energy.”
Even with limited workouts, just this preseason unleashed a flood of soccer memories for Selig.
“I couldn’t push during tryouts because of swimming,” Selig said.
“I know I wanted to get back into the rhythm really fast. (Hernandez said), ‘We want you back. I don’t know about (playing) minutes,’ but I knew they wanted me back, which makes me feel good. I think I would play outside or center midfield. We have two really strong forwards without a doubt better than I am.”
Selig was a member of the Mustangs’ sophomore team in 2017. In her earlier days with United club soccer, she often wore the atypical uniform 95, which has become one of her favorite numbers right down to her Instagram nametag.
She often remembers the words and voice of one United coach who had a British accent.
“Every time we’d do something wrong, he was like, ‘Jorie, what are you doing?’ He would tear you apart,” Selig said.
“I’m not going to lie. I cried a couple of times. I was 12, 13. I’d come back. You learn not to let other people boss you around. He was a very good coach, but I would not let him walk over me. I do not let that happen now. I know I’m a good player.”
Selig believes that mental toughness was the final factor in her having the complete state swimming success she had hoped for.
The previous three seasons she reached state but only in relays – three times with the 200 free and twice with the 200 medley and 400 free. As a freshman, she was honorable mention all-state with the 10th-place 200 free relay.
Something still was missing.
“I should have made state in all of my individuals (too). I choked sophomore and junior year,” Selig said. “I just kept getting mad at myself, because I knew I should have made it. It was just bad races at the wrong time.”
Downers South girls swimming and diving assistant coach Bryan Szweda and Hornet Swim Club coach Eric Thuneman worked with Selig to maintain her positive attitude through crunch time.
Entering sectionals, Selig already had achieved the 52.90 seconds fully-automatic time state cut needed at sectionals to advance, but it had to be done on the day.
Selig delivered a personal-best 52.34 and completed her great overall performance with the 400 free relay qualifying.
“(Both coaches are) very good at talking me down and being very levelheaded. ‘You have all of this talent, put in all of this work, the time and effort. You know what you’re doing, and you’re going to do it.’ That was one of the convincers why I did so well. I just had to focus on it and give the best I could give. I need to have to be happy with myself no matter how I did,” Selig said.
“I needed (the 100 free) so bad. I was never going to forgive myself if I hadn’t made it. Ever since sophomore year, even freshman year, I knew I had it in me. Our relays were phenomenal. The attitude would improve greatly if we made our individual events as well. Just having all of us being able to have all of our events at state was really good for morale.”
In the 200 medley relay, Selig gained further satisfaction by contributing the butterfly stroke, the first time the professed stronger freestyler and breaststroker swam fly at state.
She also showed fortitude physically by overcoming a shoulder injury that arose during the summer of 2019.
“I have bad joints,” Selig said.
Her list of injuries began with hand surgery in middle school. Sophomore year was knee injuries and junior year was a broken ankle.
Selig said the breaststroke and soccer are hard on her knees. Butterfly especially is demanding on the shoulders, but concentrated training and altering her technique made the pain tolerable.
“Honestly, I don’t know if I really learned something, but (swimming) has helped me be confident basically. Having something you’re good at, something that’s hard for people to do, makes you feel good about yourself,” Selig said. “Not many people can say they’re a state qualifier in all of their events. Overall, it’s just made me a happier person. Without swimming, I would be so different. It showed me a lot about hard work, grit and to not give up.
“This year I swam fly (at state). That was probably the most exciting part of all four years. It’s not my main stroke but I realistically did well for the amount of time I practiced technically fly-wise.”
Some of that tough demeanor from her earlier soccer days probably helped. One online posting from her United days shows her taking an unintentional ball to her face during an indoor game. Selig hardly flinches and keeps playing.
“I learned a lot from soccer,” Selig said.
“It’s taught me a lot about teamwork. It’s so cliché but it’s true. I’ve made so many friends just because of the philosophy of team and learning it’s not all about myself or them. If we work the ball, knowing that we work well together – whether it’s actually on the field or we apply it to every day – as a team we’re so much more efficient. It’s one of the reasons I want to be able to work as a team in the future as an engineer.”
Selig plans on pursing electrical engineering with an environmental focus. Her career goal is finding more efficient ways of harnessing of renewable energy sources.
Although she had times to possibly swim at an NCAA Division I program, Selig focused on smaller schools. It wasn’t until April that she decided on Colorado School of Mines.
“I thought it would be best to go D II or D III. I enjoy swimming, but I also want to be able to do good (in school) at what my future career would be,” Selig said. “(Mines) had a really good balance of competitive swimming and really strong academics. I actually remember very vividly sophomore year I took my first AP class in environmental science. Throughout the year I loved it more and more and was becoming more interested.”
Even Selig’s couple of weeks practicing with the Mustangs,, more as a soccer observer than player, gave her some closure with the sport.
“I was just going to practice and playing around with them. I was barely running and touching the ball,” Selig said. “Being there and seeing everyone having fun, passing the ball around, generally having a good time made me think of all of the fun I was missing so I decided to come back.”
Other Mustangs will have a harder time saying goodbye to their primary – and perhaps only -- high school sport.
Hernandez said the program hopes to recognize the 2020 seniors through some sort of public event once health conditions are deemed safe to do so. He also looks forward to having them return next season to be recognized as graduates.
“I have shared out that we have two options -- to be frustrated with a season taken away from us or be grateful with the opportunities that we experienced, which give us the feelings that this time we had together and the memories that came from it was special,” Hernandez responded.
“This group of seniors is up there with one of my favorite groups I have even coached, be it in the girls, boys or club teams. Not only are they incredibly skilled athletes, but their personalities, commitment, leadership, drive and energy will be greatly missed.
“Words cannot express just how valuable they have been to this program, but to their teammates, underclassmen and community as well.”
By Bill Stone
Downers Grove South college-bound swimmer Jorie Selig wanted to continue the wonderful feeling from her greatest season as a senior.
Pure joy came from rejoining soccer for the first time since she was a freshman.
“I was wracking my brain trying to come up with a way I could enjoy the last couple of months of my senior year,” Selig said.
“I didn’t even think of playing soccer but someone brought it up to me. I was like, ‘Should I play soccer?’” I was still going to swim (in college), but at that point I really wanted to enjoy soccer. I really loved it freshman year, and I didn’t know if it would change.”
It hadn’t. Selig was having a great time reuniting with the Mustangs’ senior-heavy roster when the season came to a halt because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now her focus is transferring her swimming success at the NCAA Division II Colorado School of Mines (Golden, Colo.) and majoring in engineering.
“I was really disappointed when I heard that we’d have to postpone, and now we’re cancelled for real. I’m a competitive person, so I love playing soccer,” Selig said.
“I’m going to miss paying soccer so my heart really goes out to my (senior) friends. This is their last season, and they’re really talented and have so much skill.
“I know we have a really good team, and we’ll never know. I just really wish that we’d have that last season. I’ll miss playing soccer, but I’m already used to not having it. Other girls have been playing since they were 9, 10, all-year round.”
The Mustangs entered this season with high hopes, especially after back-to-back Class 3A regional titles. With such a talented and veteran group, losing this season hurt even further. That includes seven Mustangs who were varsity starters or contributed heavy minutes since they were freshmen and sophomores.
“This is a very special group of juniors and seniors who understood what it meant to be a varsity level athlete and the commitment and drive that is needed to be successful. They were living in the weight room, studying film and doing everything that they could from a preparation standpoint to make this season special,” Downers South coach Chris Hernandez responded.
“It was very difficult to say to (our seniors) that this -- their final year where their experience and talent combined with some talented underclassmen should come together to make it a very exciting year -- has been taken away from them. It was very hard to see the joy leave their faces when the realization set in that they would not be able to compete this season.”
Selig entered her senior swimming season with similar high expectations and fulfilled them -- and then some. Besides reaching state for the fourth time, Selig qualified in the maximum four events for the first time and achieved her first top-six, all-state honors with the sixth-place 200-yard freestyle relay team (1:35.52).
Perhaps even better, Selig also earned her first individual state berth ever in the 100 free (21st, 52:63). The 200-yard medley relay also was honorable mention all-state by reaching the consolation finals (11th, 1:46.16).
“Senior year I give so much credit to my team. We were really close and super successful before the end of season. It got us so motivated when sectionals and state came up. It was impossible for me to do bad,” Selig said.
“(The 200-yard freestyle relay state finals) was great there. I was a lot less nervous than I thought I would be. It was like, ‘Hey, we already made it. We’re top six no matter what.’ We swam our hearts out. We had fun. For me and the other seniors, that was our last high school race ever. We got top six at state so we’re happy with it. We probably should have done better, but we couldn’t be mad.”
Primarily because of swimming, Selig did not play soccer as a sophomore or junior. And because of swimming Selig wasn’t able to train for soccer full-time with the Mustangs for the two weeks of her comeback this preseason.
Selig simultaneously was training and tapering for the four-day Central Zone Speedo Sectional Championships, which began March 12 in Pleasant Prairie, Wis.
This was the final meet of her winter club swimming season with the Hornet Swim Club. As schedules and life in the U.S. began changing daily, almost hourly, because of the pandemic, the meet abruptly was cancelled.
“I could have been playing (soccer) the two weeks so that kind of stunk,” Selig said.
“(The swim meet) got cancelled Thursday afternoon. Some teams flew in from Nebraska, Kansas. They had to go right back home. It was a bummer.”
The next day came Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker’s edict to close the state’s schools, and the Mustangs’ soccer season was put on hold.
“I was going to be able to play (full-time) three days later,” Selig said.
“I only played two weeks before the quarantine, but that time made me happy and remember who I was. In all, I basically did it for fun and for memories. I thought I was going to be done. I always see my sophomore coach (Mike) McGinnis in the hallways. Every time he’s like, ‘Hey, you coming back this year?’ One time it hit me. Maybe I will come back this year.”
Leaving soccer never was easy. As a freshman swimmer, Selig already had reached state with all three relays and was looking for more.
The combination of soccer with offseason swimming training and school was becoming chaotic. Soccer unfortunately had to go – or at least be put on hold.
“It was probably one of the hardest decisions I’ve made. Swimming is a very time-consuming, difficult sport and I knew I wanted to swim in college. When it gets down to it, I believed that I was better at swimming,” Selig said.
“I would say it (soccer) definitely helped (my swimming success). Freshman year I would go from school right to soccer practice right to dryland, which is working out (for swimming) on land, and then actual swim practice. I would get home at like 9:30 at night and have all of my homework. In the end, it left me less stressed. I was able to focus on what I wanted to do as a swimmer and a student.”
Once Selig considered returning to soccer, she never took for granted that she could simply just come back, especially as a senior. And if she did, maybe there wouldn’t necessarily be a guaranteed roster spot, at least on varsity.
When an attempted comeback was proposed, Hernandez quickly reassured Selig.
“When I told him the first time, I wanted to play but I didn’t know if he would allow me back on the team. He’s like, ‘You’re on the team.’ It was like a (team) joke, ‘Love to have you on the varsity team,’” Selig said.
“In our program we will always look to find a place for those that wish to become involved,” Hernandez responded.
“Jorie is an outstanding athlete and an even better person. Multi-sport athletes are not as common as they used to be. Over the last two years we have been trying to get Jorie to return to the program.
“We wished her the best (in swimming) and shared that she will always be welcome back. Although we were unable to see Jorie compete in any contests this spring season, we were ecstatic to have her commitment, mentality and energy.”
Even with limited workouts, just this preseason unleashed a flood of soccer memories for Selig.
“I couldn’t push during tryouts because of swimming,” Selig said.
“I know I wanted to get back into the rhythm really fast. (Hernandez said), ‘We want you back. I don’t know about (playing) minutes,’ but I knew they wanted me back, which makes me feel good. I think I would play outside or center midfield. We have two really strong forwards without a doubt better than I am.”
Selig was a member of the Mustangs’ sophomore team in 2017. In her earlier days with United club soccer, she often wore the atypical uniform 95, which has become one of her favorite numbers right down to her Instagram nametag.
She often remembers the words and voice of one United coach who had a British accent.
“Every time we’d do something wrong, he was like, ‘Jorie, what are you doing?’ He would tear you apart,” Selig said.
“I’m not going to lie. I cried a couple of times. I was 12, 13. I’d come back. You learn not to let other people boss you around. He was a very good coach, but I would not let him walk over me. I do not let that happen now. I know I’m a good player.”
Selig believes that mental toughness was the final factor in her having the complete state swimming success she had hoped for.
The previous three seasons she reached state but only in relays – three times with the 200 free and twice with the 200 medley and 400 free. As a freshman, she was honorable mention all-state with the 10th-place 200 free relay.
Something still was missing.
“I should have made state in all of my individuals (too). I choked sophomore and junior year,” Selig said. “I just kept getting mad at myself, because I knew I should have made it. It was just bad races at the wrong time.”
Downers South girls swimming and diving assistant coach Bryan Szweda and Hornet Swim Club coach Eric Thuneman worked with Selig to maintain her positive attitude through crunch time.
Entering sectionals, Selig already had achieved the 52.90 seconds fully-automatic time state cut needed at sectionals to advance, but it had to be done on the day.
Selig delivered a personal-best 52.34 and completed her great overall performance with the 400 free relay qualifying.
“(Both coaches are) very good at talking me down and being very levelheaded. ‘You have all of this talent, put in all of this work, the time and effort. You know what you’re doing, and you’re going to do it.’ That was one of the convincers why I did so well. I just had to focus on it and give the best I could give. I need to have to be happy with myself no matter how I did,” Selig said.
“I needed (the 100 free) so bad. I was never going to forgive myself if I hadn’t made it. Ever since sophomore year, even freshman year, I knew I had it in me. Our relays were phenomenal. The attitude would improve greatly if we made our individual events as well. Just having all of us being able to have all of our events at state was really good for morale.”
In the 200 medley relay, Selig gained further satisfaction by contributing the butterfly stroke, the first time the professed stronger freestyler and breaststroker swam fly at state.
She also showed fortitude physically by overcoming a shoulder injury that arose during the summer of 2019.
“I have bad joints,” Selig said.
Her list of injuries began with hand surgery in middle school. Sophomore year was knee injuries and junior year was a broken ankle.
Selig said the breaststroke and soccer are hard on her knees. Butterfly especially is demanding on the shoulders, but concentrated training and altering her technique made the pain tolerable.
“Honestly, I don’t know if I really learned something, but (swimming) has helped me be confident basically. Having something you’re good at, something that’s hard for people to do, makes you feel good about yourself,” Selig said. “Not many people can say they’re a state qualifier in all of their events. Overall, it’s just made me a happier person. Without swimming, I would be so different. It showed me a lot about hard work, grit and to not give up.
“This year I swam fly (at state). That was probably the most exciting part of all four years. It’s not my main stroke but I realistically did well for the amount of time I practiced technically fly-wise.”
Some of that tough demeanor from her earlier soccer days probably helped. One online posting from her United days shows her taking an unintentional ball to her face during an indoor game. Selig hardly flinches and keeps playing.
“I learned a lot from soccer,” Selig said.
“It’s taught me a lot about teamwork. It’s so cliché but it’s true. I’ve made so many friends just because of the philosophy of team and learning it’s not all about myself or them. If we work the ball, knowing that we work well together – whether it’s actually on the field or we apply it to every day – as a team we’re so much more efficient. It’s one of the reasons I want to be able to work as a team in the future as an engineer.”
Selig plans on pursing electrical engineering with an environmental focus. Her career goal is finding more efficient ways of harnessing of renewable energy sources.
Although she had times to possibly swim at an NCAA Division I program, Selig focused on smaller schools. It wasn’t until April that she decided on Colorado School of Mines.
“I thought it would be best to go D II or D III. I enjoy swimming, but I also want to be able to do good (in school) at what my future career would be,” Selig said. “(Mines) had a really good balance of competitive swimming and really strong academics. I actually remember very vividly sophomore year I took my first AP class in environmental science. Throughout the year I loved it more and more and was becoming more interested.”
Even Selig’s couple of weeks practicing with the Mustangs,, more as a soccer observer than player, gave her some closure with the sport.
“I was just going to practice and playing around with them. I was barely running and touching the ball,” Selig said. “Being there and seeing everyone having fun, passing the ball around, generally having a good time made me think of all of the fun I was missing so I decided to come back.”
Other Mustangs will have a harder time saying goodbye to their primary – and perhaps only -- high school sport.
Hernandez said the program hopes to recognize the 2020 seniors through some sort of public event once health conditions are deemed safe to do so. He also looks forward to having them return next season to be recognized as graduates.
“I have shared out that we have two options -- to be frustrated with a season taken away from us or be grateful with the opportunities that we experienced, which give us the feelings that this time we had together and the memories that came from it was special,” Hernandez responded.
“This group of seniors is up there with one of my favorite groups I have even coached, be it in the girls, boys or club teams. Not only are they incredibly skilled athletes, but their personalities, commitment, leadership, drive and energy will be greatly missed.
“Words cannot express just how valuable they have been to this program, but to their teammates, underclassmen and community as well.”