Healy, Mundelein get the jump on winning

Melissa Healy, easily the happiest person in Lake County on Saturday afternoon, worried about her Sunday.

“My calves,” Mundelein’s girls swim coach said, “are going to be so sore all day tomorrow (Sunday).”

Healy set an unofficial record at Saturday’s Vernon Hills swimming and diving sectional.

The mark: most jumps for joy in a day, on a pool deck.

Healy couldn’t keep herself grounded, especially during the first four races when five Mustangs entrants qualified for next weekend’s state meet at New Trier.

Her crew got off to a magnificent start, winning the 200-yard medley relay in a school- and pool-record 1:48.02. The collective speed of Erin Falconer, Jennifer Kordik, Meghan Falconer and Karrie Kozokar launched a beaming Healy toward VH’s natatorium rafters at least 12 times.

“Our team, from Day 1 this season, thought it could do something no other girls team at our school could do,” said Healy, Mundelein’s second-year coach – and the 2011 Vernon Hills Sectional Coach of the Year.

“They got it done in the water,” she added. “They believed in themselves, and I believed in them.”

After the medley relay, Erin Falconer touched second in a state-qualifying 1:52.27 in the 200 free; Kordik advanced to state in the 200 IM (fourth place, 2:09.32); and Kozokar (24.23) and Mustangs senior Amy Klink (24.51) went 2-3 in the 50 free.

“Our great day … it all started on the bus this morning,” said Mundelein senior co-captain Emma Engdahl. “We took the mini bus, instead of the big one. We sat close together on it, as we sang — no, screamed — the lyrics of our favorite songs on the radio.

“Insane,” she added during a break. “We’re having such an insane day in the pool. Not one bad swim.”

Mundelein earned five more state berths after the 50 free, with three of those coming via first-place efforts: Erin Falconer (51.91, 100 free); Kordik (1:05.9, 100 breaststroke); and Erin Falconer, Klink, Kordik, Kozokar (school-record 3:29.83, 400 free).

About that 3:29.83: It obliterated the pool mark of 3:34.03, set by a Lake Forest quartet in 2002.

Lake Forest (285 points), paced by senior Rachel Stoehr’s pool-record swims in the 200 free (1:48.87) and 500 free (a ridiculous 4:49.32), captured Saturday’s sectional title.

Mundelein (230) finished runner-up, 10 points better than Warren’s total. Libertyville edged the host school 139-137 for third place.

Six Warren entrants sped to state dates.

But Blue Devils coach Chad Rusk was hurting — and smiling. Hard.

“I can’t hear out of my right ear, and my throat has been sore for about a week,” he said after nine events.

“Our girls … they’re swimming lights out. Our medley relay (second place, 1:48.77) got us going, and my seniors have been great. My seniors, though, do more than just swim. They tell our young kids what and when to drink and eat, as well as how they should think before races.”

Blue Devils Katie Travelstead, Micah Pritchett, Jessie Grasty and Paige Wells swam the medley legs; Grasty, Bethany Drebing, Shannon McKiernan and Wells silvered in the 200 free relay (1:38.03); Wells topped the 50 free field in 24.19 and clocked a state-qualifying 53.3 in the 100 free (third place); Grasty also made it to state in the 100 butterfly (second, 58.07) and 200 IM (fifth, 2:09.4).

A pair of Grayslake Central Rams, Claire Haggerty and Marissa Engel, each motored to a pair of state berths Saturday. Haggerty placed third in the 200 IM (2:09.15) and fourth in the 100 butterfly (59.24); Engel, a fan of rapper Eminem, advanced in the 100 backstroke (second, 58.5) and 200 IM (sixth, 2:09.91).

“I’d been working on tempo,” said Engel, who swam to Eminem’s “My Band” — the tune spun in her head — during the 100 back.

“I counted my strokes; that helps me. But I did get a little sidetracked.”

Haggerty got ecstatic immediately after seeing her time in the fly (59.24; her seed time was 1:00.01).

“I knew I had it in me, but I wasn’t concerned about time before the race,” said Haggerty. “My (club) coach is big on, ‘Focus on the process, not the outcome.’ ”

Her coach: Healy.

Yep, Saturday’s springy Healy, who also coaches (Mustang) club swimming in the off-season.

“She’s like my second mother,” Haggerty added. “She’s changed me as a swimmer. Such a great coach. And that team she’s coaching today … that’s a quality team, right there. I’m pulling for them, heck yeah! They all deserve all the good that’s happening to them today.”

Morgan Dickson’s day on Saturday: good. The Libertyville junior, who’ll start tapering Monday, qualified for state in the 500 free (second, 5:04.32) and 200 free (fourth, 1:54.96).

“She’s targeting next week (state),” said Wildcats coach Erik Rogers. “Her goal today was to make state cuts, and she did that.”

Libertyville’s 400 free relay made the state cut – on the dot. Dickson, Sophia Lex, Lindsey Gilbert and Julia Elsmo needed to go 3:38.43 to advance to New Trier.

They went exactly 3:38.43, good for third place.

Dickson uncorked a snappy 52-second split.

“We looked at qualifying in that relay as a long shot,” Rogers said. “But they all swam amazing … just amazing enough, it turned out.”

Vernon Hills senior Zoe Eldridge qualified for state in the 100 free and 200 free, matching her efforts at a sectional last year. Eldridge, who committed to swim at the University of the Pacific last week, performed admirably near Lake Michigan on Saturday, taking runner-up honors in the 100 free (52.81) and third in the 200 free (1:54.14).

Cary-Grove’s Lauren Curtis also extended her season with a pair of state-qualifying freestyle swims: 100 (fourth, 53.78); 200 (fifth, 1:55.68). Teammate Melissa Rose bronzed in the 100 breaststroke in a state-qualifying 1:07.6.

Reigning Lake County and North Suburban Conference diving champ Allegra Codamon, of Zion Benton, scored a sectional-best 429.9 Saturday morning. Only sectional diving champs advance to state automatically each year.

But at least six other VH sectional divers have legit at-large hopes: Mundelein’s Angel Vergis (397.75), Vernon Hills’ Sarah Lopez (384.1), Warren’s Becky Stochl (382.1), Lake Forest’s Christine Anderson (378.9), Warren’s Emily Pelland (364.1) and Mundelein’s Kelsey Toland (360.95).