Blaydes makes her cuts at Vernon Hills sectional

Traveling far doesn't faze Madison Blaydes, who's logged many miles in pools and out of them.

So what's 500 yards for the well-traveled Stevenson freshman, especially when a berth in the state swimming meet is at stake?

Blaydes was razor-sharp, so to speak, in Saturday's Vernon Hills sectional. She was the only swimmer to break a pool record and finished with two wins in leading the Patriots (192 points) to a runner-up finish behind Lake Forest (238), which received a pair of individual wins from Mika Hlavin (50 and 100 freestyles), who also swam on two winning relays.

Deerfield (187) edged Libertyville (183) in a close battle for third, while Vernon Hills (121) was a distant fifth.

Born in Hoffman Estates, Blaydes lived in Brazil for three years and then moved to Florida. After nine years, Blaydes' family came back to the area just before the start of her eighth-grade year.

"It's great," Blaydes said of being back. "I love my team here, too. It was a really great move, overall."

Blaydes cut through the water effortlessly in her two individual swims. She won the 200 freestyle in a lifetime-best 1:53.43, barely beating Vernon Hills senior Melanie Rowland (1:53.64). Blaydes then dominated the 500 freestyle. She won by nearly four seconds, clocking a pool-record 5:02.99. The previous mark belonged to ex-Libertyville great Heather Kiluk (5:03.70, 2002). The state cut is 5:13.93.

"The 500, I wanted to win that so bad," said Blaydes, who just missed former Stevenson swimmer Martha VanLieshout's 1:53.39 pool record in the 200 freestyle. "It was like two seconds faster than my time last year at JO (Junior Olympics). Very exciting. Getting on the board is pretty cool, too."

Stevenson's Stanford-bound Kerrin Seymour won diving (441.00). The Patriots also qualified for state Michelle Hannon in the 500 freestyle (5:12.75, seventh).

While Antioch does not have a team, Sequoits junior Dominique Bessette qualified for state for the third year in a row in two events. She won the 100 backstroke in 59.58, after being touched out in the 200 individual medley (second, state-qualifying 2:10.36) by Deerfield's Barbra Brottman (2:10.14).

Bessette, who placed 10th in the 200 IM at state last year, is athletically built but stands only 5 feet 2.

"Technically, it's a negative," Bessette said of being shorter than most swimmers. "The taller you are, the faster you move through the water and pull water. But I can't do anything about it, so I don't really worry too much about it."

Bessette's secret to success?

"It's a lot of training," she said.

Libertyville's highlights included its winning effort in the 200 medley relay (1:50.21), freshman Morgan Dickson's three state-qualifying swims and Maggie Boling's first-place performance in the 100 breaststroke. Boling clocked a school-record 1:05.85, despite still recovering from a head cold.

"I love the breaststroke," Boling said with a wide smile. "I'm a little sick right now, but I still felt tapered and ready for today."

Apparently so. Boling collaborated on the winning medley relay with Kaitlin Amedio, Whitney Mitchell and Taylor Rogers. The Wildcats also got through to next weekend's state meet Rogers in the 100 freestyle (fourth, 53.56), Dickson in the 200 individual medley (fourth, 2:11.98) and 500 freestyle (fourth, 5:07.08) and the 400 freestyle relay (fourth, 3:39.68), which just made it with Rogers, Julia Elsmo, Dickson and Mitchell.

Libertyville's 200 freestyle relay swam 1:40.27 (third), just missing the state cut (1:40.19). Overall, however, Wildcats coach Erik Rogers wasn't complaining.

"Across the board, everybody was faster than their seed," Rogers said. "We would have loved to have gotten (the 200 free relay) in there, too, but when we look at what we did today, I think we set ourselves up to go down and score pretty well next weekend."

Vernon Hills star Rowland earned state berths in both the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle (sixth, 5:08.12).

Sophomore Zoe Eldridge was also a double state qualifier for the Cougars, making it through in the 200 freestyle (fifth, 1:56.27) and 100 freestyle (third, 53.44). Fellow sophomore Dana Andrea secured a state lane in the 50 freestyle (fourth, 24.77), and Vernon Hills' two sprint relays also swam state-qualifying with the identical foursomes of Andrea, Eldridge, Kristin Schrems and Rowland.

The 200 freestyle went 1:39.50, while the 400 relay clocked 3:37.55. Both relays finished second to Lake Forest.

"We had a phenomenal day," Vernon Hills coach Kedric Greenawalt said. "We got everybody through who we had the potential to qualify. We just had a magical day."

That magic included Schrems. The unheralded sophomore dropped more than a second in the 200 relay, more than two seconds in both of her individual events, and then two seconds again in the 400 relay.

"She was our all-star today," Greenawalt said. "You're not going to see her in the top-three results individually, but she was that fourth kid that we were looking for on the free relays. ... If Kristin Schrems does not have the meet she has today, we don't finish fifth as a team and we don't qualify as easily in those free relays."

Mundelein sophomore Amy Klink earned her first state berths, joining Emma Engdahl, Cassie Brueckbauer and Lauren Anderson on the runner-up 200 medley relay (1:50.81), before touching second in the 50 free (24.63). Lake Forest's Hlavin (24.58) won the race that saw four girls swim state-qualifying.

"I am blown away," said an elated Klink, who missed the state cut in the 100 butterfly by half a second, despite swimming in the fifth of six heats. "I am so excited. Those girls that I was racing against (in the 50 freestyle), I probably couldn't have done it without them because they really pushed me into going."

Klink's teammate Brueckbauer made state individually in the 100 breaststroke (second, 1:06.89), after just missing in the 200 freestyle.

Lake Zurich's Lindsay Schultz bettered the state cut in the 100 freestyle (second, 53.05).

Grayslake Central sophomore Marissa Engel secured her first state berth by swimming a personal-best 1:00.21 in the 100 backstroke.

"I've been so close so many times (to state-qualifying, 1:00.59)," Engel said. "My goal was just to make the state cut, so I pushed myself the whole way. I'm so happy. I finally made it."

Her effort earned her shopping privileges, compliments of her mother, Connie.

"I'm going to buy a new pair of shoes," Engel said. "My mom said if I make the cut I get to go shopping."