Girls swimming and diving: Northwest suburbs competitors have shot at state hardware

The podium stand could get a workout from area Northwest suburbs girls swimmers at this weekend's state finals meet at New Trier High School in Winnetka.

The area has 13 swimmers, divers or relay teams seeded in the Top 10 headed into the season's biggest meet, headlined by Schaumburg sophomore standout Nina Mollin, who rolls into Winnetka as the No. 1 seed in the 200 IM (her sectional time was more than a second faster than the No. 2 state seed).

Mollin, who took sixth in the state in the IM as a ninth-grader, will be busy Friday and Saturday. She's also competing in the 500 and on a pair of Saxon relays (medley and 400).

"I have been working on my backstroke," she said. "I'm trying to make all my strokes a little faster so I can be faster in total. I don't know if I have a best stroke, but I prefer the breaststroke or freestyle."

Mollin said at a minimum she'd like to cut last year's finish in half. "I'd like to be in the top three," she said. "I definitely want to go really fast in prelims and go all-out, and hopefully make the 'A' final. I'm going to push as hard as I can and put all my energy into it."

Barrington diver Anna Mae King nearly hit the 500-point total at sectionals (496.25). She's seeded third and is among 11 individuals and three relays competing for the MSL- and sectional-champion Fillies.

"I have definitely increased the difficulty of my dives," King said. "I have worked hard to make the harder dives more consistent and to make everything more consistent. I like the harder dives. It's a good way to get a leg up on the competition and score a little higher."

The Boston College-bound King took ninth in the state in 2018 after going 18th freshman year. "My personal goal is to win," she said. "I want a consistent meet where I stay focused on my dives. I'm going to do what I know how to do on the boards and then make sure I am supporting my teammates."

Teammate Lillian Reader is seeded second in the 500 and ninth in the IM, while Barrington's Maggie Graves is seeded fourth in the 500.

Hersey freshman standout Maggie Papanicholas comes into New Tier as the third seed in the breaststroke. She's also part of the Huskies' medley relay team that is seeded ninth.

"I have worked a lot on my technique and perfecting my stroke and my stroke tempo," she said. "I've been working hard in practice and that has helped improve my race as a whole."

Papanicholas' goal is to think of the state meet as a regular meet. "There will be a lot of people and tough competition," she said. "I'm going to try and have fun out there."

Hersey sophomore Molly Lumdsen swims the kickoff backstroke leg of the medley relay, which is bunched in a group of 11 schools who had sectional times ranging from 1:45.95 down to 1:44.93 (the 5 through 15 seeds). "Relays are very different," said Lumsden, who also qualified in the backstroke and 200. "I love relays because they bring the whole team together, and we have a great team dynamic. We wrote out our goals for the sectional and realized how fast we really could be. We all have to play our part and support each other. We have to be consistent. It's the first event of the meet and we want to start off super strong and hopefully come back Saturday for another performance."

Fremd senior Sophia Kuehn is making her fourth state finals appearance. She's seeded sixth in the IM. Kuehn was seventh in the state in the event as a junior.

"My first half of the race definitely has gotten a lot faster," she said. "I have done a lot of sprint training and put in a lot of hard work. Coach likes to focus on the legs with a lot of kicking, which has been really nice."

Kuehn, who will swim at Division I Ball State next season, also is seeded 17th in the backstroke. "That time (at sectionals) was not phenomenal," she said. "I was about a second slower. I think I can drop that (which based on sectional seed times would put her in contention for a medal). I want to see how well I can do in the 'A' final. I'd like to get top-six in both events. I know I can do that. I'm excited to see what I can put up."

Maine South senior Annika Wagner is seeded third in the 200, while Maine West freshman Michelle Kaner has the No. 4 seed in the backstroke. Palatine junior diver Anais Gonzalez Posso is seeded seventh, while Barrington junior Alyssa Schwengel is seventh in the 50.

Just out of the Top 10 seeds are Barrington sophomore Emily Bucaro, who is 11th in the 200, and Conant junior Megumi Komoto, who also has an 11th seed, but in the butterfly.