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Two state wins a good finish for McGovern

Natalie McGovern finished her senior season the way most swimmers would like to - winning state titles.

The Neuqua Valley swimmer had two swims in Saturday's girls state meet at Evanston. First she teamed with Amanda Brockmeier, Wyli Erlechman and Mackenzie Hornstra to win the 200-yard medley relay.

Later, McGovern returned to the pool and raced to victory in the 100 backstroke.

"Right now I'm just overwhelmed," McGovern said. "My last state meet, that's a great way to go out. Our relay did fantastic, and I had a great swim as well."

Like all swimmers, McGovern checked the results board to see her time and placing after she finished. Then second-place finisher Jordan Morling from St. Charles East swam over and gave McGovern a hug and congratulated her, though she still wasn't sure she'd won.

"I was kind of freaking out because my goggles were fogging up and I didn't see around me," McGovern said. "It was a great way to end it and I'm honestly thinking right now about the great girls they'll have next year. There are a lot of great sophomores, and they have a lot to look forward to."

Neuqua Valley's two championship swims propelled the Wildcats to seventh place.

Being seeded first in the 100 butterfly was a confidence boost for Addison Trail-Willowbrook co-op's Kelly McNamara. But the senior still had to swim the race, and she swam to a relatively comfortable victory over Loyola's Mari Jardeleza.

"I knew it was going to be a close race," McNamara said. "Most of us were back from last year so you knew it wasn't going to be a runaway."

McNamara, who previously finished sixth and second in the butterfly, became her team's first state champion.

"I'm a little bit in shock," she said. "At the end I didn't know if I won or not. I swam a lot more over the summer. So when I came in this year, I had a lot more of a base. So at the end of the year, I was able to focus on turns and starts and technique, working to do the little things right."

Trailing Prospect's Dana Liva by more than 20 points entering Saturday's finals, Naperville Central junior diver Sydney Dusel had a difficult task trying to retain her state title. But Dusel put together a solid final three dives and ended up behind only 464.50-456.60 after the 11-dive competition.

"I tried," Dusel said. "I was behind by 23 points and I knew it would be very difficult to catch up to (Liva.) But she had a very good meet."

A gymnast most of her life but a diver for three years, Dusel has had a strong two-year performance at the state meet. She won as a sophomore and was second this year.

"I knew coming in that it was going to be tough for her to defend her state title," Naperville Central diving coach Dave Likar said. "There were a couple of hiccups yesterday, and she was down by some points. But she really made a run to try to win this thing."

Just behind Dusel was Hinsdale Central senior Margy McCarthy, who finished with a third-place diving finish, which she adds to previous fourth- and fifth-place finishes.

"I feel good getting points for the team," McCarthy said. "I love the team. Today, I knew I had pretty easy dives. I mentally got into it. I got here, got into the zone and then all I had to do was smile and go out and do what I needed to do."

Hinsdale Central's 400 freestyle relay finished 12th and the team was 14th.

Metea Valley's Amanda Burson improved from her fifth-seed starting position and raced to third place in the 50 freestyle and out-touched Downers Grove North's Emily Albrecht in the process.

"I wasn't really expecting to place that well," Burson said. "I'll take it. In the middle of the race, it's hard to tell if you're doing well because the 50's so close. Normally, the end is my weak point and people catch me."

Burson said that even after checking her time, she still wasn't sure how well she'd done.

"It took me a really long time to process it," she said. "I was back with my team and dried off and then it finally hit me that I got third."

Later in the meet, Burson finished 11th in the 100 freestyle to complete her junior year state meet.

"I'm really happy with it," she said. "This is my first strong season in a couple of years because I've had a number of health issue and injuries and things. I finally had a season without many setbacks and I was able to push myself like I was able to before."

In the race for team trophies, Downers Grove North took a strong run at Loyola Academy. The Trojans couldn't keep the Ramblers from winning the title, but they tied for second with Rosary.

"We had a few glitches early on, and we had to recover from those," Downers Grove North coach Judy Busse said. "We did and that was nice."

The Trojans entered the meet-ending 400 freestyle relay needing a strong performance, and Emily Albrecht, Daria Wick, Gabriele Serniute and Lindsay Mathys finished fifth to ensure the team earned the tie for second.

"Everybody was on the edge of their seats and didn't know how it was going to end," Busse said. "Fortunately, it went well for us."

Busse said one of the keys was when diver Emily Aument moved up six places and finished sixth. That kick-started the team's surge that had sagged a bit after the 200 medley relay finished second. Downers Grove North won the 200 freestyle relay and got a second-place finish from Serniute in the 200 IM.

Images: Girls State Swimming Finals

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