Divers delight again for Mustangs

The young Mundelein swim team faced a tough challenge Thursday, heading to Lake Forest to face a deep and experienced Scouts team ranked among the best in the state.

But while Lake Forest swam to a 134-52 win, Mundelein coach Jenny Curry was pleased to see a number of her swimmers dropping time as the younger athletes continue to jell with the more experienced Mustangs.

"Mainly when we come into meets like this, especially when we're swimming in an eight-lane pool against Lake Forest, it really helps us to go for best times," Curry said, "to focus on the little things such as turns and starts, including our relay starts."

"We had a lot of season bests tonight. All three of our 500 swimmers had season bests. Our older girls are very consistent throughout the season, which is important right now. We had a good meet, and a lot of girls swam well."

Mundelein (1-3, 1-1 North Suburban Conference) dove particularly well. The Mustangs took the top three spots -- for team's only event win of the night -- behind Taylor Reckert (209.85), Polly Hirt (190.50) and Rebecca Schmidt (185.69).

"We've been diving in the off-season with [diving coach] Melissa Sethna at Mundelein over winter and in the spring and summer," said Hirt, a state qualifier last year. "She pushes us because she knows our capabilities, but she's also really positive and gives us good feedback about our dives. We just have to remember to go for it, learn new dives but still learn things like techniques that will help us keep improving our dives."

"For Taylor and I, our goal is to go to state. The way we're diving right now, that goal definitely seems reachable, so we'll keep working toward that and keep practicing."

Senior Sarah Falconer had a good meet for Mundelein, taking a close second in the 200-yard individual medley (2:18.07) to Courtney Adams (2:17.94) and finishing third in the 100 breaststroke (1:12.25).

"She's been doing really well," Curry said. "She's very consistent. She went a 2:17 in her IM at Lake County and had a good meet, and had another good meet tonight."

Sara Marciniak finished fourth in the 200 freestyle (2:10.38) and fifth in the 100 freestyle (1:01.90), while Cassie Brueckbauer took fourth in the 100 freestyle (1:00.46) and the 100 breaststroke (1:13.55). Michelle Lau took fourth in the 100 butterfly (1:08.75).

Alexis Jones (second, 1:11.13) and Sarah Honda (third, 1:12.53) made the 100 backstroke the highest-scoring swim event for Mundelein.

In the 500 freestyle, the Mustangs got season-best times from three young swimmers -- Honda (fourth, 6:08.00), Ally Whitson (fifth, 6:23.59) and Breanna Rehor (7:01.68).

"Sarah Honda's a very versatile swimmer," Curry said. "The 500 is probably going to be one of her events the rest of her high-school career; she's a really good 500 swimmer. But she's able to compete in a lot of events. She's a freshman who's really stepped up, and she's a really hard worker.

"Breanna Rehor's done a great job for us, filling in wherever we need her. Ally Whitson's another one of our freshmen who's doing a great job. She's another freestyler who's very versatile and can do a lot of things."

The Mustangs get back in the pool this weekend at the Hersey Invitational, then host Warren on Thursday for senior night.