Girls swimming: St. Charles North, Beu off to fast starts at state prelims
Naperville Central senior swimmer Lauren Eschmeyer has put in the hard work for four years.
Friday at the girls state championship prelims at FMC Natatorium, it all paid off.
Eschmeyer, who had previously competed in the preliminaries but had never before advanced to the final day, saw her dreams come true in Westmont.
She posted a time of 56.33 in the 100 fly to qualify for Saturday.
“Hard work and grit, that’s all it is,” said the senior. “It feels amazing.”
Redhawks coach Mike Adams said that Eschmeyer has done “a great job all four years,” and “did a great job getting ready for this meet.”
“This competition,” added Adams, “the pressure here is unbelievable. She handled it really well and did a nice job of stepping up.”
St. Charles North senior Izzy Beu, the reigning 200 individual medley state champ, had the best time in the 200 IM (1:57.94) and the 100 fly (53.62) Friday.
Beu was also part of the North Stars’ 400 free relay team that set a IHSA record (3:19.43) in the final event of the night at FMC.
“We wanted to go out and put the exclamation point on a great evening,” said Beu.
“It’s nice to have done it tonight and I’m hoping it will translate to tomorrow, where we hope to go even faster.”
She added that it was a little bittersweet knowing that this weekend would be her final high school competition.
“I love this team so much,” said Beu, “and I’m sad for it to be over. But I’m so happy for this to have been my journey and happy for all of the opportunities I’ve had.”
Rosary, the 2023 state champion, posted a solid preliminary round.
Beads senior Becky Rentz, state titleist last year in the 100 free and the 200 free, won those events Friday in the times of 49.16 and 1:46.23.
Avery Luedke, a North Stars senior, was fastest of all in the 500 free at 4:50.86. Elizabeth Nawrocki of Rosary claimed first place in the 100 breaststroke with a mark of 1:00.74.
Other notable individual local qualifiers for Saturday’s finale include Sarah Juiris of Maine South, second in the 500 free; Kate Farrell from St. Charles North, second in the 500 free and third in the 200 IM; and Katie Malm from Oswego co-op, leading the diving with 356.10 points.
Junior Ella Houston from Buffalo Grove finished in third place in the 500 free.
Hailey Vlcek of Riverside-Brookfield was fourth in the 200 free, Paige Kowal of Rosary claimed the same position in the 200 IM, and Beads teammate Ariyana Nieckula finished third in the 100 fly.
Aria Grossenbach of Stevenson, a sophomore, advanced in the 50 free (23.04) and the 100 free (50.16)
“She’s a leader,” said Patriots coach Ayrton Kasemets of Grossenbach. “Aria knows she has a big job this weekend.
“Most likely she’ll have eight swims (including relays), and she knows she has to take it one race at a time. She’s really good at that.”