Libertyville teams up for victory at Palatine

There is strength in numbers, as was clearly demonstrated by Libertyville's girls swimming and diving team on Tuesday at Palatine.

And in a dual meet setting, an abundance of freestylers is especially helpful.

That was one challenge the Wildcats were facing heading into this season, and coach Erik Rogers sure likes what he's seeing in response. A team that returns three of the four members of its state-finalist 200 medley relay but lost its freestyle anchor leg from that quartet has found plenty of ways to stay among the state's top teams.

All of which helped Libertyville top the Pirates 112-74 in a nonconference matchup.

"We knew Palatine had really strong freestyle relays," Rogers said, "so to be able to stay with them in those races was great. That's what you want to get out of a meet like this - you want to see what it's going to take to get to that next level."

Palatine claimed the top finish in the 200-meter free relay as Tess O'Brien, Kelsey Hank, Lily Zahn and Kristin Anderson won by a half-second in 1:57.52.

In the 400 free relay, Libertyville's Emma Richert, Lucy Saucedo, Staci Herchenbach and Harriet Davies won an even closer race, finishing in 4:08.03 and winning by less than two-tenths of a second.

Richert had the freestyle leg on Libertyville's winning medley featuring Meredith Robbins, Macey Neubauer and Herchenbach.

The top spot in just about every varsity race was closely contested. Libertyville's edge in the second-, third- and fourth-place finishes ultimately made the difference in the outcome. And a 1-2-3 finish for the Cats in the 400 free from Neubauer, Siobhan Prince and Anne Barnett was key.

"When you get three All-Americans back from the year before, you know you've got a chance to do something special," Rogers said. "What's really changed things for us this year is the other kids who've stepped up."

Rogers specified Olivia Rush, Barnett and Saucedo as competitors who are making this the deepest dual meet team he's had at Libertyville. Rush won the 200 IM, and the Wildcats also got individual wins from Herchenbach (100 back), Robbins (100 breast) and Morgan Paul (diving, 185.25).

Palatine, meanwhile, is adjusting to some changes. Freshman standout Ellis Nelson is likely done for the high school season as she prepares for the MRI results on a hip injury.

Pirates junior sprinter Kristin Anderson is on the rebound from her own challenge, a dislocated kneecap which prevented her from training over the summer. The good news here is that the individual state qualifier from last season doesn't seem to be suffering from the unplanned layoff.

Anderson won the 50 free (27.78) and 100 free (1:00.85) and had excellent legs on Palatine's freestyle relays.

"I was actually kind of dreading coming back, knowing that I'd missed out on the summer," Anderson said. "There was some doubt, some uncertainty. But having meets has really helped me get some confidence back."

Zahn gave Palatine a lift by winning both the 200 free (2:15.68) and 100 fly (1:09.15), along with her two freestyle relay legs.

Kelsey Hank's year-round commitment to swimming is also making a big difference for the Pirates. Pirates coach Brittany Berleman likes how both her freestyle relays are progressing and hopes to see both earning a spot in the state meet much later this season.

"We spotted some things today on the 400 relay where we can improve," Berleman said, "but if you convert our 200 relay time from today to yards, we're already at the same time we were doing in late October of last year. So I'd say we're right on track."

"You take our time from today, and we're already 1 second from the state cut," said O'Brien. "We feel really good about that. Everybody's working hard here."

Including the divers. Coach Curt Bendell had them in the gymnastics room after the diving portion of the meet had concluded. Senior Andrea Ori paced Palatine on Tuesday in second with a score of 171.20.

Asked what was the priority for his group, Bendell said, "Practice time - we really need that. It's a tough one for us with meets Tuesday, Thursday (hosting Schaumburg) and Saturday (at the Maine South Invite), so we're just in here trying to get some things squared away."