Fillies follow familiar formula
Shaving and tapering.
Swimming faster and diving better.
Those were the keys to Barrington's success in last year's girls swimming state meet, when they were runners-up.
And the same formula has the Fillies in the hunt for another state trophy at this weekend's state meet at New Trier High School in Winnetka.
While the scores of each team aren't tabulated until after Saturday's finals, which begin at 1 p.m., Barrington has eight qualifiers in today's meet, including all three relay teams.
Stevenson leads everyone with 14 qualifiers after entering the finals session with 16 and defending state champion Rosary has 10 qualifiers. New Trier is right behind Barrington with 7 qualifiers.
If Friday's results were duplicated in today's finals, Rosary would win the meet with 160 points and Stevenson would be second with 132, ahead of New Trier (110) and Loyola (104).
"We had a good day," said a relieved Barrington coach Jim Bart, whose team has done a remarkable job this season and is continuing that success at state despite losing five out of the nine swimmers who medaled at last year's meet. "We were very happy that our 400 relay moved up from 17th (among all teams at sectionals around the state) to eighth. Our 200 (free) relay moved up from 12th to eighth."
For at least the third time in her high school career, Barrington senior Alexa Hamilton broke the school record in the 200 IM, finishing sixth in 2:07.22. Her previous best was 2:07.23. She's also seeded fourth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:04.80. Teammate Emily Fogle is seeded second in the breaststroke after turning in a school-record 1:03.59 on Friday.
In the relays, Victoria Waring, Emily Fogle, Hamilton and Kim Steelman finished sixth in the 200 medley; Fogle, Steelman, Sam Simon and Sara Fogle placed eighth in the 200 free; and Steelman, Sara Fogle, Simon and Hamilton came in eighth in the 400 free.
"Our goal was to swim faster and, for the most part, we did," Bart said.
Also advancing to today's finals was Hersey senior Heidi Johnson. Johnson, who is only in her second year of diving, is tenth at 250.05 points.
St. Viator's Nikki Holladay, who ended up sixth in the backstroke a year ago, finished 11th in the preliminaries in that event Friday.
Leading the way for Stevenson was senior Ashley Wanland, who broke her own state record set two seasons ago by winning the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:01.83.
It was sweet redemption for Wanland, who last season was disqualified at the sectional meet and was unable to defend her state title.
"Having that opportunity taken away from her was unfortunate, but she knows what she can do," said Stevenson coach Karl Milkereit.
"We came into the meet with 119 points from where we were seeded and now we have 138 possible points. Really, for a lot of them, this has been four years in the making. The last two years we knew we could possibly be in this situation."