Time for some celebration at Barrington

In her final opportunity to qualify for the girls swimming state meet, time was standing still for Buffalo Grove senior Sara Fasching on Saturday.

She'd finished her 100-yard backstroke effort in the Barrington sectional, and the rest of the heat's times had been posted on the scoreboard. But a timing pad malfunction in Fasching's lane had Buffalo Grove holding its collective breath.

The state cutoff time was 59.92. The other five entrants in the heat had bettered that and earned their spot in next week's state meet.

“I knew it was close,” said BG coach Tom Mroz, who had his own hand-held time but knew the only one that mattered would be the official backup time. So he jogged to the scoring table to get the word.

Fasching, meanwhile, asked the timers for her lane, who told her time was right about at one minute.

“So I was almost expecting that I missed,” Fasching said.

Instead — time to rejoice.

The announced time of 59.74 qualified Fasching to state, setting off a watery celebration with her junior teammate Veronika Jedryka, who'd raced alongside Fasching and qualified relatively easily, winning in 58.70.

Fasching's was one of many success stories at Barrington.

Jedryka, Fasching, her sister Callie and Margaret Lotzer advanced to the state meet in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays, and Jedryka earned another spot by placing third in the 100 free (52.65).

The host Fillies won the meet with 256 points, ahead of Stevenson (236), Fremd (211), Hersey (137.5), Palatine (119) and Buffalo Grove (105).

Barrington had just one significant disappointment as the 400 free relay was a near-miss for state. But across the board, the Fillies impressed as Erika Elliott won the 50 free and 100 free and anchored state-qualifying 200 medley and 200 free relays; Danielle Elliott advanced in the 200 and 500 frees; Mekenna Scheitlin moved on in the 50 free and 100 breaststroke and Olivia Hoffman and Justine Kaszynski made it in the 100 fly.

The best part for Barrington is its top three swimmers — the Elliott sisters and Scheitlin — are right on schedule for peak performances at New Trier next weekend.

“Overall, a really solid day for us,” said Barrington coach Jim Bart. “We've got some chances with our relays at state, and we have every reason to believe they can be a little faster.”

Stevenson's in a similar position, as Madison Blaydes, Julia Wawer and Riley Kirby were not fully rested for the sectional but performed well enough to advance on two relays. Wawer also made it in the 50 and 100 free, Blaydes in the 100 back and Kirby in the 100 breaststroke.

One disappointment for the Patriots was the 200 free relay, which missed state by an eyelash.

“There's always a little risk when you don't completely rest for this meet,” said Stevenson coach Karl Milkereit. “But we had great swims all the way around today, and we're well positioned with our two relays at state.”

Stevenson's Cheryl Xiang made state in the 200 and 100 freestyles; Rebecca Hannon advanced in the 100 fly and 500 free; senior Michelle Hannon placed third and earned the final qualifying spot in the 200 IM; and sophomore Leah Bloodgood took the last advancing spot in the 100 breaststroke.

Prospect senior Jessica Cavaiani produced a blistering 30.4 split on her way to winning the 100 breaststroke in 1:06.15. It put her in a very different frame of mind from a year ago, when she narrowly missed the state standard in the same race.

“I just felt more confident this year,” she said. “Last year, I think I was just too worked up about things.

“It feels awesome — my goal time for today was 1:06.95, so I'm quite a bit ahead of where I thought I'd be. Maybe 1:05-something next week? My emotions are all over the place right now.”

Fremd enjoyed a cumulatively stellar day. After a narrow miss in the 200 medley relay, it was good news the rest of the way for the Vikings.

Freshman Erica King advanced in the 200 free, then delivered a victory in the 500 free with a smooth-as-silk 5:01.68. She also had legs on state-qualifying 200 and 400 free relays with seniors Amy McEllen and Sam Matuszewski and junior Breanna Anderson. The 400 relay won by more than a second as Anderson provided a 52.43 anchor leg.

Anderson also earned her second straight state trips in the 50 and 100 freestyles, and junior Kayleen Samuels punctuated Fremd's big day by advancing in the 100 backstroke.

Fremd senior Stephanie Uhrich won diving with 414.55. Her sister Elizabeth was fourth (376.35) with a great chance to advance with an at-large state berth along with Prospect freshman Dana Liva (second at 406.20) and Palatine senior Stephanie Hamer (third at 382.65).

Palatine senior Nicole Huffman earned a third straight state trip by placing third in the 100 back (59.28). Pirates sophomore Laura Mayer advanced in two races, winning the 100 fly (58.00) and taking second in the 200 IM (2:10.01). Another Palatine soph, Amy Zahn, made it in the 100 fly (58.69).

Hersey's highlight were the great performances by junior Amanda Petro. She won the 200 free by nearly two seconds (1:52.61), placed second in the 100 free (52.37) and produced an anchor leg of 51.49 on the 400 free relay to take Hersey's Erin Horne, Kayla Dale, Karolina Szymaszek along with her to the state meet after a third-place finish.

Dundee-Crown senior Colleen Champa will compete at state for the second straight year in both the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke, but this time the goals are a bit higher.

She placed eighth in the state meet last season in the breaststroke but hopes to improve on that this time around with best times in both races, and at least top 12 placement in both.

Champa was pleased with her efforts at Barrington because both were nearly best times — but without the benefit of the full end-of-season streamlining effect of a full taper. She won the 200 IM in 2:09.64 and placed second in the 100 breaststroke in 1:06.75.

And the state meet workload will be significantly reduced for Champa, who at the sectional anchored the Chargers' 400 free relay just minutes after finish her individual breaststroke race.

“It's tough to come back so quickly,” said Champa, “but we really worked on it a lot during the season, because we knew all along it would be like this.”

Coach Laura Wayman used a catch-up drill, where Champa and some of the faster D-C swimmers would try to catch the lower-level swimmers after they were given a head start. Wayman said one of the keys was to understand that there's a specific way to be fatigued and still swim effectively.

Asked how it felt to have qualified Champa to state for a second straight year, Wayman took the opportunity to set the record straight.

“Well, really, I'm not taking her to state; she's taking me to state,” Wayman said. “She's such a hard worker — she deserves everything she gets. We're excited about next week, and I think she's going to swim really well.”

Lake Zurich junior Ashley Balda placed third in the 100 breaststroke (1:07.48) and earned a second straight trip to the state meet in that event.

at Downers Grove North: Conant freshman Allison Cicero finished seventh in the 200 free (1:56.05) and fourth in the 500 free (5:10.90), with state-qualifying times in both. Benet (249 points) edged Downers North (236) for the team title.