Relay wins it for Vernon Hills
Heading into the final event of the night, the Vernon Hills swim team knew a win in the 400-yard relay would secure a win in the meet.
The Cougars didn't leave much doubt about the outcome, as Melanie Lecaroz, Kelly Steininger, Melanie Rowland and Maddie Kleinhample each outswam their Zion-Benton counterparts, with their 3:56.91 time nearly 4 seconds better. With their 97-85 win against the Zee-Bees, the Cougars improved to 3-1 in dual meets for the season.
"We knew we had to get a certain amount of points in that race to win the meet, so we were trying to psych ourselves up to do well," Kleinhample said. "We knew whoever got 93 first would win the meet.
"Mel Rowland came up to us and said, 'We need to win this.' We tried to get all the girls pumped up enough. It's a hard race for me because I always swim the events right before the relays, but I always try to do the best I can and help the team."
The team was also helped by Lecaroz and Rowland, who won two events each.
Primarily a freestyler, senior Lecaroz excelled at two events she rarely swims. She set a school record in the 200 individual medley (2:17.31) and won the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:03.37.
"I've been swimming year-round since I was 9, and doing that exposes you to a lot of different events," Lecaroz said. "You get to know how to go about your race, and people have their own ways of doing things. I always listen to my music to get my head focused.
"The events I was swimming today are longer than the 50 and 100 I normally swim, so I just have to get myself prepared mentally, because physically I know I'm prepared."
Rowland, a sophomore, won the 200 freestyle (2:00.03), then took the 500 freestyle (5:23.23) by more than 50 seconds.
"Melanie Rowland is an exceptional swimmer," Cougars coach Kedric Greenawalt said. "Today, we tried to play around with some meet strategies she's not accustomed to. She can have a tendency to just swim fast from the get-go, and today we played around with some pacing. So her times weren't where they normally would be, but we took this opportunity to toy around with a few things, and she still swam very well."
The Cougars also won the 100 breaststroke with a strong swim from freshman Kelley Gallagher (1:17.32), and the team of Gallagher, Kleinhample, Ashley Lenz and Rowland swam to victory in the 200 freestyle relay (1:49.26).
In her first varsity meet, freshman Bridgette Munoz won the diving event with a 113.50 score.
"We're off to a good start," Kleinhample said. "Overall, we want to keep trying to get best times, stay positive and work as a team. Greenwalt's really set on getting a relay to state, and that's a big goal for us. We always want to swim fast and have a lot of fun."