Barrington wins 20th straight MSL crown

In a swath of prairie just off the Barrington High School grounds, a prescribed burn was taking place Saturday.

The Fillies girls swim team extended the theme inside the natatorium, where Barrington’s scorched earth tactics led to a staggering 20th straight Mid-Suburban League championship.

Barrington’s formula for such smoke-on-the-water dominance is pretty straightforward.

Take a couple of elite level swimmers such as senior Erika Elliott, who won the 100-yard freestyle and the 100 backstroke, and sophomore Mekenna Scheitlin, tops in the 50 free and 100 breaststroke. Both had legs on two winning relays.

Mix in point-scoring depth from junior Danielle Elliott (second in the 200 and 500 frees) and Kayla Widdowson (second in the 200 IM, fourth in the 100 breastroke). It surely helps to have a developing standout like Olivia Hoffman, who won the 100 fly and was third in the 200 IM.

But to win conference for 20 straight years, you also need swimmers such as Kelly Meckert and Lisa Danhauer. And that explains why Barrington coach Jim Bart was beaming after the Fillies had amassed 307 points to better Fremd (230), Hersey (171), Palatine (133), Buffalo Grove (98) and Prospect (92).

“We thought the 200 free relay might be one of our vulnerable spots,” said Bart, “but those kids swam out of their minds.”

With Meckert delivering a split of 25.1 on the second leg and Danhauer anchoring in 24.5, the Fillies won in 1:40.23. Scheitlin led off and Danielle Elliott had the third leg.

For both Danhauer and Meckert, this was the final meet of the year, meaning they were fully rested for the meet and at their peak performance.

That’s a luxury of depth no other team in the MSL has. In any other program, those juniors would be individual standouts and still in tough conditioning sessions, aiming for their top times two weeks from now at the sectional.

“That’s OK,” said Meckert. “It’s all part of being on a great team.

“And being on a great team means you have teammates,” she said, pointing to Danhauer, “that make you faster.”

Barrington won all three relays. Another Fillies highlight was Erika Elliott’s meet and pool-record effort of 58.20 in the 100 backstroke; Bart says she’ll revert to the 50 and 100 freestyles for the sectional. And freshman Emma Barnett produced a fourth-place effort in the 500 freestyle.

Fremd took a big step forward, finishing with about 70 points more than the previous year. Much of that surge can be traced to the efforts of freshman Erica King, who took command in winning the 500 freestyle (5:10.02) and placed second in the 100 back (1:00.54). Junior Breanna Anderson placed second in the 50 free (24.99) and third in the 100 (54.54), and the Vikings had two second-place relays (medley, 400 free) and a third (200 free).

Hersey junior Amanda Petro produced an impressive win in the 200 free (1:55.05) and placed second in the 100 free (53.89).

“She really took charge of the race, which is great,” said Hersey coach Dick Mortensen of Petro’s 200. “I think with Amanda, sometimes it takes her a long time to get warmed up — but she was really ready to go today.”

Hersey finished in the top three in all relays, including second in the 400 free with Petro, Kayla Dale, Karolina Szymaszek and Erin Horne (3:43.49).

Palatine’s individual talent shined in the championship format. Sophomore Laura Mayer won the 200 IM and combined with soph teammate Amy Zahn for a 2-3 finish in the 100 fly, and senior Nicole Huffman placed fourth in the 100 back.

Buffalo Grove’s top finishes came from Veronika Jedryka in the 100 back (third, 1:00.69) and 100 free (fourth, 54.73). Conant freshman Allison Cicero earned third-place finishes in the 200 free (1:58.17) and 500 free (5:15.85).

Wheeling freshman Theresa Godlewski impressed with a third-place effort in the 50 free (25.57), and senior teammate Leah Malsom was fifth in the 100 free (54.91). Prospect junior Jessica Cavaiani placed second in the 100 breaststroke (1:08.58) and fifth in the 50 free (25.85).

Sydney Skibinski had Schaumburg’s top effort, third place in the 100 breast (1:12.10), and Elk Grove’s highest placement was Simona Kurta’s fifth in the 100 fly (1:01.44).

It took a sustained group effort by Barrington’s swimmers to finally get Bart into the pool for a celebratory championship dunking after the meet. He clung to the pole that supports the backstroke flags while one Fillie after another tried to pry him off of it. Probably his experience with winning MSL meets has something to do with his skill in resisting the plunge.

“He was saying he had a knee injury and we had to be careful with him,” Danhauer said.

Or it’s entirely possible Bart was just blowing smoke.