Patriots make big splash against Lake Forest

Stevenson swimming's senior class has shifted the balance of power in the North Suburban Conference over the past two years.

The Patriots underscored that again on their senior night Thursday, as they out-swam perennial rival Lake Forest for the second year in a row. They won the meet 120.5-64.5 to take a big step toward back-to-back undefeated seasons in conference.

"The history we had with Lake Forest was they kind of dominated us for quite a few years," Patriots coach Karl Milkereit said. "So it feels pretty good to come in and get a little streak of our own going."

With the state meet a little less than a month away, the Patriots (6-0, 5-0) put up a number of season-best times against the Scouts.

April McKee had a season best in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.47 and, as usual, delivered a win for Stevenson in the 100 butterfly (59.87). Melanie Koto had her best 200 freestyle (1:58.78), winning the event, while Christina O'Connell had hers in the same race (2:00.11, third place).

Tori Alland had her best 500 freestyle of the year, jumping out to a big lead early and, at 5:09.01, outdistancing her nearest competitor by more than 9 seconds.

"We just told her to work a little different strategy than we've been doing the last couple races, and it worked really well," Milkereit said of Alland, who also took second in the 50 with a time of 26.05.

"She just kind of bull-rushed it, got off to a fast start, and that was awesome."

Stevenson was dominating enough that three events featured Patriots finishing in the top three spots.

In diving, senior Sam Stenn claimed the top spot with a score of 201.80. And even with defending state champ Kerrin Seymour still out with mono, the Patriots managed to sweep the top spots with strong showings by Rachel Cliburn (187.20) and Caitlin Pagano (126.30).

"I just try to focus on what I can control in my dives, not the scoreboard or what anyone else is doing," said Stenn, who's been a consistent scorer for Stevenson all year. "As divers, we always want to do really well for the team, to show them we can do our best and add points to the team victory."

Stevenson dominated the 200 individual medley behind Martha VanLieshout (2:12.50), Erin Cunningham (2:14.71) and Emma VanLieshout (2:20.88). In the breaststroke, Ashley Wanland added another win to her long resume (1:03.84), while Sarah Dolejs (1:11.11) and Michelle Pliskin (1:13.81) followed.

"We've had Michelle do breaststroke one other time this season, and we were trying to get some people in some different events before the weekend," Milkereit said. "So for her to swim that well in the breaststroke was awesome. With Sarah, that was only a little bit off her season best, so that was also big."

Cunningham added to her IM performance with another victory in the 100 backstroke (1:02.46), pulling ahead in the second half of the race to best Lake Forest's Ellen Stoehr by a second and a half.

"Erin Cunningham's been consistent all season," Milkereit said. "That was her second-best IM of the year, and our pool can be a little slow time-wise. And then winning the backstroke was big. She's been there for us all season long."

The Patriots also showed their overall strength by winning all three relays. Cunningham, Wanland, McKee and Alland won the 200 medley relay (1:51.90), while Stevenson got freestyle wins from the teams of Martha VanLieshout, Alland, Koto and McKee in the 200 (1:42.10) and Koto, VanLieshout, Cunningham and Wanland in the 400 (3:42.65).

Lake Forest's only win of the night came from Courtney Adams in the 100 freestyle (55.06), where Wanland (55.26) and Koto (55.83) were right on her tail.

Next up, Stevenson faces No. 1-ranked Rosary among the field at Saturday's Deerfield Invitational, then wraps up its conference season against Zion-Benton on Thursday. Then it's on to conference, sectionals and the state meet.

"Our team's really close and we bond really well," Stenn said. "A lot of teams are separate, where the divers leave after their part of the meet, but we always stay together, always cheer each other on. We have a really good team atmosphere, and that helps us all do really well."