'Sick' performances from Anderson at sectional

With the benefit of perspective, perhaps that wasn't a cold Palatine junior Kristin Anderson was battling on Saturday during the Stevenson girls swimming and diving sectional.

After all, lifetime best times are generally not produced without a fully functional respiratory system, and all of Anderson's swims at the meet were besties, and by a wide margin.

Anderson won the 50-yard free (23.63) and the 100 free (51.37), breaking the pool record in the latter. She also anchored Palatine's state-qualifying 200 freestyle relay.

So, OK, perhaps it was seasonal allergies were behind the red nose and slightly swollen face. Either way, it doesn't look like it's worth worrying about.

Anderson said after Saturday's meet that the 50 was her favorite performance of the day, since it essentially put all fears to rest.

"For that first race, you just don't know how it's going to go," she said. "After that, I was able to relax and enjoy the rest of the meet."

Anderson's times will have her nicely seeded for Friday's state meet prelims at Evanston. She had the state's third-fastest sectional performance in the 50 free and the fourth-fastest in the 100.

As for team records, well, Anderson still has those to chase. Alison Wimer's enduring 50 free (22.78) and 100 free (50.20) marks from 1996 aren't yet within range, but after this weekend, who knows?

Diving in: Prospect senior Dana Liva set a personal best with a score of 507.30 in a winning effort at Stevenson. That was the fourth-best sectional total and makes her one of only four divers in the state to get above 500.

The top scores each came from different sectionals, so it's a mistake to put too much emphasis on the results because each meet had different judges. But clearly Liva is among the elite entering the state meet.

Coach Antonino Bondi said he was "very pleased" with Liva's performance and that she was generally happy with her sectional effort.

The top three sectional scores came from Loyola senior Katie Rourke (531.60), Naperville Central sophomore Sydney Dusel (518.55) and Andrew sophomore Emma Ruchala (516.35).

Joining the state field with at-large berths from Mid-Suburban League schools are Fremd seniors Sydney Plichta and Sarah McTague, Palatine junior Liz Johns and Conant senior Emily Weingart.

Really good relays: Each of Fremd's relays is seeded in the top six at state, and Barrington also figures to have scoring chances in all three.

Fremd is seeded second in the 400 free relay (3:30.17), third in the medley (1:45.43) and third in the 200 free (1:36.10).

Barrington's top-seeded relay is the 400 free (fourth), while the 200 free (12th) and medley (13th) will also aim for point-scoring top-12 finishes.

Hey, this is easy: Fremd senior Erica King wasn't fully rested for the sectional, yet she qualified to state with ease in both her individual events, the 200 free and 500 free, along with providing strong freestyle relay legs.

"That's the easiest I've seen her swim this year, regardless of time," Kittrell said. "That's a great sign."

And the times were terrific. In the 200, she qualified 16th (1:54.10), and in the 500 she qualified fourth (5:01.10).

Of the 500, King said, "I was really surprised when I saw my time. It didn't feel that fast."

It's a good year to be a strong distance swimmer, as the 200 free had the fewest individuals of all the events make the state cut (30), and the 500 was next (35).

Irrespective of her finish at state, King has another goal this weekend in the 500.

"Five minutes," she said. "It'd be nice to get under that."

Speaking of distance: Barrington's Kirsten Jacobsen and Maggie Emary have the top two seeds at state in the 500 free.

Jacobsen, of course, has won the race the last two years at state and is the state record-holder in the 200 free.

Emary is a freshman and is enhancing the Fillies' reputation for producing fine distance specialists.

Last year, Emma Barnett was 16th in the 500 free as a junior, finishing in 5:03.07. This year, she'll compete at state in the 200 IM and on relays.

Barrington had another freshman this season, Maggie Menso, who would have qualified to state easily in the 500 this year after placing second in that race at the conference meet in 5:04.96.

"Obviously, I'd rather be swimming," Menso said on deck at Stevenson, while supporting her teammates. "But it's great to see everybody swimming so well."

End of the season: The state meet qualifying times are difficult enough that for many teams, the sectional meet is the last chance to compete.

So, while many entire teams won't be represented at the state meet, virtually all were aiming for season-best times and got them at the sectional meets.

• St. Viator coach Jamie Klotz was most impressed with his 400 free relay. Georgie Christy, Maggie McDermott, Julia Nelson and Jackie Rose each took quantum leaps in delivering a season-best time time by almost 13 seconds.

"The fastest we'd been was 4:02, and today we went 3:49," said Klotz, completing his first year with the Lions. "The girls swam out of their minds."

Rose also had nice time drops in the 100 and 200 freestyles, and Ashley Alteri dropped a couple of seconds to 1:03.03 in the 100 fly.

• Rolling Meadows' high point was the medley relay of Teresa Perille, Erin Pletch, Bailey Rowley and Olivia Hepko, which broke a team record from 1986 in finishing in 1:55.13.

But there were an awful lot of great moments, as coach Monika Chiappetta measured the overall Mustangs performance as pretty much perfect.

"We had 28 swims, and 28 best times," she said. "I mean, we went 28-for-28 - what more could you hope for?"

• Hoffman Estates senior Megan Bonney had a terrific effort in the 100 free at Stevenson, dropping 2.5 seconds off her best to finish in 54.72.

• At the Niles North sectional, Hersey's free relays took big steps forward. The 400 quartet of Sarah Petro, Katherine Gorey, Abby Johnstone and Olivia Kusio finished in 3:43.83, and the 200 relay with Abay Zeynep, Gorey, Kathryn Lutz and Kusio finished in 1:41.27. Petro had nice time drops in both the 200 and 500 frees, along with Jane Quinn, who lopped some 14 seconds off her seed time.

• Schaumburg freshman Ingrid Hay had a great 100 backstroke at the York sectional, placing 10th in 1:02.89.