Girls swimming: Scouting Mid-Suburban League meet

Mid-Suburban League swimming and diving

Where: Barrington Diving: Friday, 6 p.m. Swimming: Saturday, 11 a.m.

Outlook: Barrington is after a staggering 19th straight Mid-Suburban League championship, and getting it is a virtual certainty based on the Fillies' overwhelming quality and depth. In addition to state meet veterans such as seniors Jacqueline Holdsberg, Kate Valentine, Anne Jacobsen and Erika Elliott, coach Jim Bart has added tremendous depth this season as swimmers such as Danielle Elliott and Justine Kaczynski have improved dramatically. And the Fillies have benefited from a surge of freshman talent such as McKenna Scheitlin and Olivia Hoffman, who have the top two seeds in the 200 IM. All of that seems quite secondary now, though, to a sad non-swimming matter: Bart's mother passed away earlier this week. Services have already been held, but Barrington and the other programs who so respect Bart and his program will be competing with heavy hearts.

The race for second: Where the meet might be most interesting is the battle for second place. Hersey won the East and hopes to reprise the fine finish delivered by coach Dick Mortensen's bunch down the stretch last season. The Huskies' top individuals are Amanda Petro (100 free, 200 free), Christine Rovani (200 IM, breaststroke) and the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays.

Also in the running for a second-place finish are a balanced Fremd team led by Kayleen Samuels, Megan Kennedy and Breanna Anderson, and a Palatine team featuring standout Monica Dorszewski (200 free, 100 breaststroke) and a developing group that's made steady progress all season. Accomplished senior Sammy Schuckles leads the way for Schaumburg with the second-best seed time in the 100 backstroke (1:00.42), not far off the top seed from Jacobsen, who established a team record earlier this season with a 58.42. Buffalo Grove, led by sophomore distance freestyler Veronika Jedryka and Sara Fasching, has been close with Prospect all season and they seem poised for a great battle in the middle of the MSL pack.

Best races: The 200 free, where Erika Elliott has the top seed in 1:56.24, followed by her sister Danielle, then Petro and Dorszewski at No. 4 in 1:57.89; and the 100 breaststroke, where Dorszewski has the top seed (1:08.23) but Rovani at No. 4 is close behind after Schetlein and Prospect's Jessica Cavaiani.