Girls swimming: Strong finishes for Libertyville's Neubauer, Paul
It didn't take long for Libertyville senior Macey Neubauer to quantify her final day of performing as a high school swimmer.
Just after the awards ceremony for the 100-yard breaststroke during Saturday's girls swimming and diving state finals at New Trier, she weighed in on the day's proceedings.
"I was pretty happy with all my swims," she said. "It's just the kind of way you hope to finish up. I feel like I raced the best I possibly could."
Neubauer finished 10th in the breaststroke, ninth in the 200 IM and had a leg on the Wildcats' eighth-place medley relay with teammates Meredith Robbins, Staci Herchenbach and Emma Richert.
As Libertyville coach Erik Rogers pointed out, that's the third straight year the Wildcats' medley relay has dented the state meet scoreboard. And Neubauer had a lot to do with that finish this year after providing a terrific 50 breastroke leg of 29.61 on the relay.
"The medley, I think we think of that race like it's really our baby," she said. "We put a lot of extra time in working on the exchanges, really trying to get it perfect."
Libertyville junior diver Morgan Paul has also been working on getting things right. After finishing 13th in diving last season, she upped her off-season commitment to the sport.
While that certainly helped improve her skills, she said the biggest uptick has been in the competition with herself.
"In my opinion, diving well is 100 percent a mental thing," she said. "It's all about staying calm and just doing what you've been able to do in practice. I think I came a long way with that this year."
Libertyville diving coach Dave Fowler agreed, but pointed out that a higher degree of difficulty on her Paul's three dives was also a key.
Paul finished eighth at 424.95. With three graduating seniors finishing ahead of her, she'll have the fifth-best returning score for next year's meet.
"Most of the time divers have a hard time matching their qualifying score here, because of tougher judging at state," Fowler said. "But she actually improved her score. That shows just how in control she was and how far she's come."
The medley relay, Neubauer's individual swims and Paul's diving result gave Libertyville 22 points for an 18th-place finish.
Stevenson tied for 25th place with Downers Grove North at 13 points after four finals races.
The Patriots' highlight was the meet-ending 400 free relay, as Casey Kirby, Irune Andres, Rachel Song and Iza Pelka improved on their seed by one place to finish 10th. That was especially important to the quartet's two seniors, Kirby and Andres.
"Relays are special because there's just more to it than yourself," Kirby said. "I think it just brings something else out of you."
That team unity came in handy out of the water as well. Kirby was disappointed with a couple of her early swims in Friday's prelim session, but her teammates made sure she didn't sulk too much. The intervention resulted in a ninth-place finals finish for Kirby in the 100 back.
"I know there was no way I'd have done that without my teammates," Kirby said.
Andres, too, sacrificed for the good of the team. Both she and Song, a junior, traded potential point-scoring wins in individual events for relay legs.
"This team means a lot to me," said Andres. "We were all so supportive of one another. I would do anything for the team - and it would work the other way, too."
Song, a junior, finished 11th in the 100 fly in her first individual point-scoring performance, and sophomore Iza Pelka placed 12th in the 200 free.
Warren junior Courtney Barker wrapped up a strong season with a pair of second-day swims.
She said a slow start didn't help her 50 free effort, but she still improved her seed and finished eighth in 23.62.
In the 100 backstroke, Barker placed sixth in 56.31. It's the second straight year she's been among the select few to make a championship heat at the state meet.
"On the second day of this meet," said Barker, "It's just making sure you put everything you have into your races. I did that, for sure."
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.
Barrington's Kirsten Jacobsen won the 500 free (for the fourth straight year) in 4:47.08 and also won the 200 free (1:48.15).
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 co-op in the 100 breaststroke (1:02.55) and Sydney Dusel of Naperville Central in diving (490.60).