Girls swimming and diving: Barrington has strong first day at state

Barrington broke through in a big way Friday at the IHSA girls state swimming preliminaries finals in Westmont.

The Fillies had six individual qualifiers and a relay qualify to Saturday's finals.

"We went into last week, thinking about this week," Barrington coach Alex Mikolajewski said. "We wanted to make our day and we were able to do that."

Barrington was third in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Jenna Kerr, Lauren Holman, Lillian Reader and Emily Bucaro combined for a time of 3:27.60.

Reader dropped her time and finished second in the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 1:49.89. Reader also finished second in the 500-yard freestyle in 4:52.49.

Bucaro also made it to the finals in two events, finishing sixth in the 500-yard free in 4:59.13 and sixth in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:50.86.

Kerr made it through to the final group in the 50-yard freestyle, where she finished fifth in 23.45. Kerr also had a good finish in the 100-yard freestyle where she was third in 50.49.

The finals were held at the new FMC Natatorium in Westmont. It is the first IHSA state finals not held at either Evanston or New Trier since 1986 when it was held at Hinsdale South.

Hersey's Aly Blumenfeld leads the diving competition after six dives on Friday. The senior has a score of 335.40 with three dives remaining on Saturday.

The Huskies also made it to the finals of the 200-yard medley relay. The team of Mollie Lumsden, Maggie Papanicholas, Brooke Martin, Ashley Oiler combined to finish for a 5th place in a time of 1:44.57.

Their 200-yard freestyle relay finished 16th.

The Huskies also had a couple of individual qualifiers for the finals.

Papanicholas was second in 100-yard breaststroke in 1:01.16. Earlier, she failed to qualify and was 18th in the individual medley.

Lumsden finished 10th and qualified for the finals in the 100-yard backstroke in 56.58. She was also 18th in the 200-yard freestyle.

Natalie Plewa was 24th for the Huskies in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Schaumburg qualified two of its relay teams.

The Saxons' 400-yard medley relay team of Nina Mollin, Danielle Alley, Briana Parziale and Madison Dohrn was 11th in 3:31.96

The 200-medley relay team was ninth in a time of 1:45.27. Dohrn, Mollin, Annabel Banicz and Zuzanna Krasnicki combined for a 1:45.27.

Mollin had a great effort in the 200-yard medley relay. The senior finished second in 2:00.75. She then came back to finish fifth in the 500-yard freestyle in 4:59.56.

Dohrn finished third in the 100-yard backstroke, and was 19th in the 200-yard freestyle.

Krasnicki was 31st in the 100-yard freestyle and 22nd in the 50-yard freestyle.

Fremd's Katie Kuehn qualified for the finals in a pair of events. The sophomore finished seventh in the 50-yard freestyle in 23.51. She then finished eighth in the 100-yard freestyle in 51.35.

The Vikings' Que Genet is in 10th place in diving. The freshman scored a 308.45.

Rolling Meadows' Caitlin Widawski became the Mustangs' first diver in 35 years to qualify for the finals. Widawski was able to make it to Saturday's competition by finishing 12th on Friday with a score of 299.90.

Maine West's Michelle Kane had a superb race, finishing second in the 100-yard backstroke in 55.43.

Buffalo Grove finished 16th in the 200-medley and 16th in the 200-yard freestyle relay. . Emilia Jedryka was 26th in the 100-yard freestyle and Reese Frighetto was 30th in the 50-yard freestyle.

Palatine's Emily Ziemba was 16th in diving.

Maine South's Sophia Szymanski just missed qualifying in the 100-yard backstroke. The sophomore finished 13th. She also finished 21st in the individual medley.