Greyhound Swimming Duo Has Eyes on More State Success

The Shorewood High School girls swim team has traditionally been one of the best Division 2 teams in the state. The 2011 version features two outstanding young female athletes, sophomore Kristin Malone and junior Ellen Stello. The girls have emerged as the best swimmers on the team and athletic director Bill Haury said that he, head swim coach Rob McCabe and the rest of the coaches could see those two coming a long time ago.

“What Shorewood has is a really good swim club,” Haury said. “These kids start swimming in grade school and they really are able to identify with it. By the time they get to the high school level, they have gone through, a two-, three-, four-, even five-year swim program. So Kristin and Ellen, we knew they were coming and we have seen them coming up through the age group swimming.”

Shorewood finished seventh as a team in the WIAA Division 2 meet last year, fourth in 2009 and sixth in 2008. But every point scored in last year’s meet was by an underclassman, and Malone and Stello led the way.

Stello was second in the 500 freestyle and third in the 200 individual medley. Malone was third in the 50 freestyle and fourth in the 100 freestyle. Shorewood also scored points in two of three relays.

Both girls began swimming when they were in elementary school, although they got into competitive swimming via different paths. Malone began swimming competitively because her mom wanted her to keep going with it, and now she is a rising star. Stello began swimming competitively when all of her friends started swimming, but now, “out of all of my good friends, I am the only one left who is still swimming competitively.”

As is the case with any high school sport, one of the primary goals is to beat the big rival, and in the case of Shorewood, that means beating Whitefish Bay and they did just that. The other major goal was to win the Woodland Blue Conference, which Shorewood has now captured the last four years running.

For Malone, one of her personal goals heading into the season was to get a record. She said she “wasn't going for any one event in particular” so any would do. She accomplished this goal on Sept. 10 when she set the Shorewood pool record in the 50 freestyle with a time of 23.85 seconds. That’s already almost half a second faster then her state meet time a year ago and the fastest Division 2 time in the state this year, according to the state coaches association. For good measure, Malone also owns the lowest times in the 100 free, 200 free and 500 free.

For Stello, one of her goals is to have the best time in her events at sectionals so she can automatically qualify for state. Shorewood participates in the sectional at Plymouth on Nov. 5. Stello owns the state’s third-best time in the 500 freeestyle.

Malone and Stello might be fierce competitors, but their opinions of each other are very high.

“(Malone) is one of the fiercest competitors I've ever met,” Stello said. “She is very motivated to win if nothing else. She will do anything she can to win.”

“Ellen is a very competitive swimmer,” Malone said. “She has done amazing in this last year and she can definitely be even better this year.”