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Girls swimming: A winning high school finale for Barrington's Jacobsen

Barrington senior Kirsten Jacobsen, welcome to a couple of very exclusive clubs.

After a pair of victories in Saturday's girls swimming and diving state finals at New Trier, she became the second swimmer in Illinois high school history to win a total of seven individual races. Stacy Cassiday got hers competing for Evanston in the early 1980s.

In the other club, Jacobsen is the only member.

By winning the 500-yard freestyle in 4:47.08, she became the only swimmer in state history to win that race four times.

Eluding her by less than one-half second was the 500 free state record. Oddly, the record-holder in the 500, Adrienne Bicek of Downers Grove North, set the record in prelims and then was beaten in the finals.

Underscoring, perhaps, that records are nice, but the priority with Jacobsen was winning.

"It's a little disappointing about the record," said Jacobsen, "but I'm pretty happy I was able to pull off the four-peat."

It wasn't easy, thanks to some terrific athletes in the water with her.

Lake Forest's Reilly Lanigan and St. Charles North's Monica and Audrey Guyett each finished within a couple seconds of Jacobsen in the first 500 finals heat with four competitors faster than the 4:50 mark.

But there was Jacobsen at the end, gliding away with a final surge over the last 100 yards.

Barrington senior Sarah Kate Capel and her teammates were keeping a close eye on the race.

"Whenever I'm watching her, there's never any doubt that she's going to pull it out," said Capel. "You just know that somehow she's going to do whatever it takes."

That was the case in the 200 free as well. Jacobsen, the state record-holder in the event, won in 1:48.15. That one goes down as her third straight 200 free victory. Jacobsen's only non-winning individual swim in her four years of state meet competition was a third-place effort in the 200 free as a freshman.

"What she did today was cement her legacy as one of the top swimmers in Illinois history," said Barrington coach Jim Bart.

Barrington finished 11th in the team race with 45.5 points.

The 200 freestyle relay of Capel, Bridget O'Leary, Emma Graves and Jacobsen placed 12th, as did the 400 free relay of Jacobsen, Maggie Emary, Maggie Menso and O'Leary.

Emary enjoyed a most unusual turn of events in her individual race, the 500 freestyle. An illness forced Chatham Glenwood's Alexis Preski to scratch her participation in the event, which elevated Emary out of the top seed of the consolation heat and into a coveted spot with her teammate Jacobsen in the championship final.

And Emary more than rose to the occasion, finishing in a lifetime-best 4:54.31 and tying for fifth place with Loyola's Ella Tierney. Emary will have the third-fastest returning time in the state next year.

"Obviously, everybody wants to be in that final heat," said Emary. "Once I found out I was in, I just told myself to not worry about what place I'd finish - to just go out and do my best."

That was also the plan for Palatine senior Kristin Anderson. She was disappointed her results in Friday's preliminaries but channeled her efforts toward a final high school test in the 100 free.

She improved on her seed by four places, finishing eighth in 51.88.

A little pre-race advice from her coach seem to help.

"I told her, 'You've got nothing to lose, just get up there and try to win it,' " said Palatine coach Brittany Berleman. "I'm so proud of her. This is a tough place to swim fast twice, and she did that."

It was a struggle all weekend for Fremd senior Grace Grzybek.

After her Friday prelim effort in the 200 IM, she was so fatigued she had trouble standing and tried to recover in a prone position behind the timing table for several minutes.

Grzybek still went on to earn a spot in the 100 backstroke consolation heat. She was tied for the lead after the first half of the race Saturday before taking 12th.

"Absolutely nothing to be ashamed of," said Fremd coach Andrew Kittrell. "She just ran out of gas on the last 25."

Fremd has a young, capable group of swimmers, and Grzybek's courageous performance - and not only at the state meet - was certainly instructional to them.

Asked by Kittrell to provide an example of what Grzybek meant to this year's team, Fremd freshman Lauren Savage didn't hesitate.

"In practice, let's say we're doing a hard set of descending swims or something and we're struggling, she was always there to encourage everybody and tell us, 'You got this, let's do it,' " Savage said. "She taught us so much about what it means to be a team."

Grzybek leaves as the top backstroker in Mid-Suburban League history.

"What I'll remember," said Kittrell, "is how tough she was."

Berleman said she would quite naturally miss Anderson's sprinting abilities in the future, but was just as concerned not having someone around who enjoyed having "goofy fun, and just being a person you want to be around."

Anderson will race at Illinois next school year. She took a moment to predict how she'll one day recount her four seasons of competing for Palatine.

"I think I'll look back on it and just be really appreciative of all the people who did things for me," said Anderson.

Jacobsen's collegiate is at Arizona. After four years of high school dominanance, it sounds like she's ready for the next level.

"I know it will be a very different setting," she said. "It's going to take a lot of work to be one of the best at that level, but I'm up for the challenge."

Rosary turned in a dominant performance to win the team race with 192 points, ahead of runner-up Lake Forest (154) and St. Charles North (122.5).

Lake Forest had a double winner in junior Daria Pyshnenko, who took the 50 free in 22.59 and the 100 free in 49.77. Pyshnenko also had a leg on the winning free relay, which provided the meet's only state record by winning in 3:23.58.

Other individual champs included Alexis Yager of Rosary in the 200 IM (2:01.58), Carly Kramer of Plainfield Central in the 100 fly (54.53), Rosary's Athena Ye in the 100 back (54.97), Val Tarazi of Crystal Lake Central in the 100 breaststroke (1:02.55) and Sydney Dusel of Naperville Central in diving (490.60).

  Barrington's Kirsten Jacobsen heads for a victory in the 200-yard freestyle during the girls swimming state finals at New Trier High School in Winnetka on Saturday. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
  Palatine senior Kristin Anderson, top, leaves the starting block in the 100-yard freestyle during the girls swimming state finals at New Trier High School in Winnetka on Saturday. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
  Fremd senior Grace Grzybek swims in the consolation heat of the 100-yard backstroke during the girls swimming state finals at New Trier High School in Winnetka on Saturday. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
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