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Girls swimming: An inspired session from heavy-hearted Warren

Making it to the state meet speaks volumes and can serve up plenty of motivation all on its own.

Warren's girls swimming and diving team had extra motivation to perform well when the Blue Devils jumped into the pool at Evanston High School for the preliminaries of the high school state meet on Friday.

The Lady Blue Devils are swimming with heavy hearts after sophomore relay member Alyssa Church's brother Josh collapsed and died suddenly after competing for the Cats Aquatics team in an age group swim meet Wednesday night at Vernon Hills. He was a junior and part of a family synonymous with Warren swimming.

"Do it for Joshy. This is what he would have wanted," said a very quiet Alyssa, a member of Warren's 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams. The two relays are the first Warren has qualified for state.

"Everyone has been so supportive. It's hopefully going to serve as extra motivation to swim faster."

Tulane-bound Courtney Barker is a member of both Warren relay teams and also qualified individually in the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke.

"No sleep obviously the last couple of days. It's been a tough week," said Barker. "It hit me hard because Josh was a great friend to me. He would have wanted us to come here and do our best."

A packed crowd shared a moment of silence before the start of the meet.

"Very emotional," a choked-up Warren coach Chris Bertana said. "But the support that everyone and the student body has showed has been awesome. The Church family is a terrific family and they wanted us here to swim for Josh."

The Blue Devils indeed swam inspired. Barker will compete in Saturday's consolation championship heat of the 50 freestyle, as she is seeded 11th (23.91 seconds).

"I need to work more on my turns, but I'm happy I made it back in the 50," she said.

Barker's best event is the 100 backstroke, and she will make a return trip to the championship heat after finishing fourth in the prelims (56.38).

Warren's two relays (Church, juniors Megan Wong and Danielle Glisovich and Barker) narrowly missed making it to the consolation final. The 200 freestyle finished 16th (1:37.87), while the 400 freestyle was 21st (3:35.90).

Stevenson is also primed to collect some nice hardware.

For starters, the 200 medley relay team of sophomore Ashley Carollo and seniors Danielle Fang, Rachel Song and Morgan Bosse will compete in the consolation finals after taking ninth in the prelims (1:45.50).

The Patriots' 400 free relay team is in the hunt for a top-6 finish after the foursome of Bosse, Song, Carollo and junior Iza Pelka swam a 3:30.20 to take sixth in the prelims.

"We've had the same four all season. They have such great camaraderie," Stevenson coach Kevin Zakrzewski said of his 400 relay quartet, the top seed heading into Evanston.

"You can't really worry about the times. We're just trying to put ourselves into a position for a second swim."

That won't be a problem for Pelka, who will also compete in the championship heat of the 200 freestyle after swimming a 1:51.02 to finish sixth in the prelims.

Song earned a second swim as well after taking 10th in the 100 butterfly (56.55). Running mate and senior Jessica Lenhart also made it to the consolation finals in the 100 fly by taking 12th in prelims (56.76).

Pelka will compete in the consolation finals after taking eighth in the 500 freestyle (5:01.04), while Carollo will go for a top-6 medal after a sixth-place effort in the prelims of the 100 backstroke (56.54).

Senior Morgan Paul will represent Libertyville after qualifying for the finals in 1-meter diving.

Paul posted a score of 305.90 on Friday, good for fifth place with three dives remaining.

Images: Prelims at the State Final Meet in Girls Swimming & Diving

  Stevenson's Iza Pelka competes in the 200-yard freestyle in the girls swimming state meet preliminaries Friday at Evanston High School. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
  Stevenson's Rachel Song swims in the 100-yard butterfly during the girls swimming state meet preliminaries Friday at Evanston High School. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
  Stevenson's Jessica Lenhart competes in the 100-yard butterfly during the girls swimming state meet preliminaries Friday at Evanston High School. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
  Lake Zurich's Sophia Goushchina swims in the 100-yard freestyle Friday during the girls swimming state meet preliminaries Friday at Evanston High School. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
  Mundelein's Angela Bowes gets set on the blocks for the 100-yard backstroke during the girls swimming state meet preliminaries Friday at Evanston High School. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
  Stevenson's Rachel Song stays underwater on the start of the 100-yard backstroke during the girls swimming state meet preliminaries Friday at Evanston High School. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
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