Stevenson steamrolls to NSC title

En route to winning the North Suburban Conference meet for the second year in a row, the Stevenson girls swimming team was even more dominant this time.

Among the highlights:

• Stevenson took first in 10 of 12 events and added second places in five.

• Martha VanLieshout and Ashley Wanland set meet records.

• The Patriots eclipsed the state cuts 11 times, despite not being fully rested and tapered ahead of next week's sectional.

The Patriots followed up an undefeated regular NSC season with a complete team performance Saturday, scoring 385 points -- 108 more than their nearest rival and 80 more than they rolled up last year.

Lake Forest finished second in the meet with 277 points, followed by Libertyville with 235.

"It's kind of cool to be where we're at," said Stevenson coach Karl Milkereit. "Having been here when Lake Forest was the dominant machine that it was for so long, pumping out titles, it's cool to follow in that footstep and kind of look at our team in that light, that what they were doing then is what we're starting to build now."

After the morning diving competition where the Patriots; Kerrin Seymour and Sam Stenn finished 1-2, Stevenson won the first six swimming events in the afternoon.

The 200-yard medley relay team of Erin Cunningham, Wanland, Christina O'Connell and April McKee (1:50.92) topped the state time by a full second and beat second-place Lake Forest by more than two.

The Patriots dominated the 200 freestyle, with VanLieshout (1:54.56), Tori Alland (1:55.51) and Michelle Pliskin (1:57.75) claiming the top three spots. The trio repeated, in the same order, in the 500 freestyle.

In that race, VanLieshout (5:04.64), Alland (5:06.08) and Pliskin (5:09.76) all delivered times good enough to qualify for the state meet, if they can repeat their performances next week.

VanLieshout's time also broke a meet record set in 2002 by Kristina Lennox.

"One thing I like about having three swimmers at the conference meet now is someone like Michelle used to have to finish her season at JV conference," Milkereit said. "Now she's allowed to come and be in the meet with her peers who she swims against all season. And to come in and produce swims like that, that's really huge."

Wanland won her first event, the 200 individual medley, pulling ahead on the breaststroke leg to finish first in a time of 2:09.09.

Wanland broke her 2004 meet record to win the 100 breaststroke (1:03.02).

Fellow senior April McKee won back-to-back events for the Pats, following her win in the 50 freestyle (25.69) with a come-from-behind victory in the 100 butterfly (59.38).

"She had close races on both of those, and did a great job," Milkereit said. "She's matured so much in the last four years, and it's exciting to see her now swimming those kind of races and winning. She's been doing a great job for us all year."

Stevenson got relay wins in the 200 freestyle (1:40.92) and 400 freestyle (3:37.78), followed by Lake Forest and Libertyville in both.

Cunningham placed second to Wanland in the IM (2:11.83), and to Melanie Rowland of Vernon Hills in the 100 backstroke (1:00.99), with season bests in both races. Melanie Koto finished a close second in the 100 freestyle (54.86), just one-hundredth of a second behind Lake Forest's Courtney Adams (54.85).

Other Patriots who collected medals included O'Connell in the butterfly (sixth, 1:00.82), Katherine Moy in the 100 freestyle (sixth, 57.04), Koto in the backstroke (sixth, 1:04.58) and Emma VanLieshout (fifth, 1:10.48) and Sarah Dolejs (sixth, 1:11.83) in the breaststroke.

Libertyville took third in each of the relays, and boasted a number of high individual finishes.

The Wildcats had their best showing in the breaststroke, where Dana Davidsen (1:09.04) and Maggie Boling (1:09.43) finished second and third behind Wanland.

Taylor Rogers finished third in the 100 freestyle (56.16), while teammate Whitney Mitchell did the same in the 50 (25.75). Other medal-winners included Mitchell in the 100 freestyle (fourth, 56.70). Emily Ott in the 200 IM (fourth, 2:16.28) and Melanie Blair in the backstroke (fifth, 1:04.47).

"I told them, 'swim hard and have fun, and you'll be fine,' and that's pretty much what they did," said Wildcats coach Greg Herman. "Most every kid logged at least one really good swim, and I was pleased."

Fourth-place Vernon Hills (119 points) posted its best-ever team finish in the NSC meet.

Rowland was a big reason why, winning the backstroke with a time of 1:00.60 and finishing second to McKee in the butterfly (59.39) by one-hundredth of a second. Both times beat the state cut.

Senior Melanie Lecaroz added a fifth place in the 50 freestyle, with a time of 25.90.

"We ended up the dual-meet season seventh in the conference, so to finish fourth here is pretty big for us," said Cougars coach Kedric Greenawalt.

Mundelein got a fourth-place finish in the 50 freestyle by senior Sarah Falconer (25.88).

Warren received strong individual swims from Kristen O'Connor in the 100 freestyle (fifth, 57.01) and Ally Calewarts in the backstroke (fourth, 1:02.68).

"Both of them had really good swims, the fastest they've had this season, so that was really good to see," said Warren coach Erik Rogers. "Both of them are looking to really show up and do well next week to make state. They've been working pretty hard this season, and they're both a little faster than they were at this time last year."

The times become a lot more critical at next week's sectionals, where swimmers can advance to the state meet by either winning their events or besting the state cuts.

Stevenson will host a field that includes Barrington and Glenbrook South.

Lake Forest, Libertyville, Mundelein and Warren will all compete at Vernon Hills.