Barrington's Fogle far out in front in breaststroke
Barrington senior Emily Fogle produced the fastest sectional time in the 100-yard breaststroke by more than a second and a half. Her 1:03.28 is almost a second and half better than that of the nearest competitor.
The defending state champ in the event had been looking forward to another contest against St. Charles North's Angie Chokran, last year's runner-up to Fogle in the race, but it won't be happening.
Chokran opted to swim in an international meet that conflicted with Saturday's sectional. That means she can't compete as an individual in the state meet prelims at New Trier on Friday, though she will be substituted onto all three North Stars relays as an alternate.
Fogle said Tuesday that she regrets Chokran, who is also a friend, won't be racing as an individual, but at least it wasn't a surprise. Fogle knew about it a few weeks ago, around the time of the conference meets.
"To me, high school swimming is just really special," Fogle said. "It's the one time you're really a team, in the true sense."
Progress: St. Viator advanced one swimmer to this week's state meet prelims, as Stephanie Nolan tied for third in the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:08.02 in Saturday's Barrington sectional.
But the Lions had remarkably consistent time drops across the board in Saturday's Barrington sectional, and coach Adam Clementi was pleased to see his program taking a step forward.
"We were much more of a united team this year," he said. "Throughout my time at St. Viator, we were able to reach the highest level of training in this season. That's really important."
As at every sectional meet, there are some disappointments. St. Viator had also hoped to qualify Melanie Battaglia in the breaststroke; she was a near-miss after finishing fifth in 1:09.22.
The good news? Both Nolan and Battaglia are juniors and figure to help St. Viator's overall improvement continue.
"It's bittersweet, because in some cases, we had higher expectations," Clementi said. "But the girls are handling it the right way - they're already talking about next year."
They're back: Rolling Meadows won't be competing in the state meet, but the Mustangs were mostly pleased with their sectional performance. Though coach Monika Chiapetta's team will some of its depth to graduation, many of the key swimmers - such as Maddie Conlin (a junior), Neeka Szacilo (a freshman) and Vicky Vockeroth (a sophomore) and Maddie Piontek - will give the Mustangs a terrific starting point next season.
Another East squad that got valuable experience Saturday was Wheeling - sophomore Leah Malsom finished seventh in both the 200 and 500 freestyles.
Good times: Coach Alfonso Lopez's Prospect team saw its season end Saturday, but the Knights also left feeling good about their performances.
Despite several swimmers fighting off colds in the week preceding the meet, the Knights didn't really have any letdowns and ended up placing fifth with 114 points.
"The best thing about it is we swam really well all the way around," Lopez said. "(Jessica) Cavaiani had an excellent breaststroke; (Grace) Pietraszek had an awesome meet, big time drops in both the IM and the fly, our 500 swimmers really did a great job ... it was one of those days where a lot of things really went our way."
Junior Meg Dix just missed the state cut in the 50 free, senior Kelly Wilson wasn't off by much in the 100 free, and the two of them teamed with Cavaiani and Pietraszek to take second place in the medley relay in a season-best 1:53.12.