Fillies off to a fine start after swimming past Evanston

After finishing seventh in the girls swimming state meet state meet last fall, Barrington entered this season with hopes for an even better finish.

That won't be easy with the loss of four-year standout Kimmy Steelman, but the Fillies' hopes weren't diminished one bit by Saturday's dual against Evanston. Barrington put forth a convincing performance, winning 105-81 and avenging a tie to the Wildkits last season in Evanston.

"We've got a nice group," said Barrington coach Jim Bart. "If a couple things fall into place for us, we should be all right at the end."

And that group is already getting a lift with the addition of freshman distance swimmer Danielle Elliott, who won the 500-yard freestyle in 5:19.30 and finished second in the 200 free. Her sophomore sister Erika had perhaps the other key individual swim for Barrington - she won the 50 free in 25.00, edging Evanston's Jane Munro (25.14), the defending state champ in the 100 backstroke.

And then there's Emily Fogle. The defending state champ in the 100 breaststroke won that race easily, in 1:03.85, only a little more than a second slower than her state title effort. Fogle also won the 200 IM (2:07.63), and contributed to victories in the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays.

Other individual winners for Barrington included Anne Jacobsen in the 100 fly (59.24) and Anne Etherington in diving (196.35).

"I think we feel like this team has a lot of potential," Fogle said. "It's exciting, but we just have to keep working at it and get the most out of everybody.

"Having Danielle come in as a freshman and contribute, that's a pretty hard thing to do. And with Erika, and Anne Jacobsen winning the fly in 59 - that's great, especially for right now."

Evanston's key wins came from Munro in the backstroke (58.91) and Sarah Thompson in the 200 free (1:56.08) and 100 free (53.84).

Hoffman Estates Invite: Rolling Meadows proved to be the cream of the crop at Hoffman Estates, winning the six-team meet with 159 points to top runner-up South Elgin (148) and Conant (144).

Key for the Mustangs was sprinting. Vickie Vockeroth and Maddie Conlin both earned top-three finishes in both the 50- and 100-meter freestyles, and Meadows won the 200 free relay in 1:59.52. Jamie Vicars supplied a second-place finish in the 100 fly, and Neeka Szacilo placed second in the 100 breaststroke.

South Elgin won the medley and 400 free relays and got winning efforts from Andee Wisler (200 free), Alex Moore (200 IM, 100 back), Hannah Rueger (50 free, 100 free), Taylor Greene (diving) and Hayley Erath (100 fly).

Wheeling got second-place finishes from Leah Malsom (200 free, 400 free) and a third from Amy Wilson in the 100 backstroke.

Conant winners in Monica Tanski (400 free) and Amaris Pozniak (100 breaststroke).

St. Viator Invite: Depth was the key for Prospect at St. Viator, where the Knights amassed 323 points to edge runner-up St. Ignatius (311) and the host Lions (282).

Prospect's top individual finishes came from senior Kelly Wilson with victories in the 50-yard freestyle (26.20) and 100 freestyle (57.54), and from junior Madeleine Spacapan in the 500 free (6:00.45). Prospect also had second place finishes in the 200 medley relay (Meg Dix, Greta Pietraszek, Jessica Cavaiani and Wilson) and the 200 free relay (Amanda Drucker, Pietraszek, Grace Gruendel and Wilson).

The highlight for St. Viator was a winning effort in the 400 free relay to finish the meet. Megan Shover, Samantha Swiderski, Carson Soch and Margaret Stefanowski finished in 4:01.31.