Rosary hears Naperville North coming at sectional
Naperville North coach Kristy Holben believes her Huskies are in perfect position to make some noise at the girls swimming state meet next week.
The Huskies finished second behind four-time defending state champion Rosary at Saturday's Metea Valley sectional, qualifying all three relays and winning three individual races.
The Huskies' winners were Jen Law in the 200-yard individual medley in 2:08.50 and Amy Novak 23.73 in the 50 freestyle, both personal-best times. In the biggest surprise of the day, Rachel Prorock won the 100 breaststroke in 1:05.93.
Law also finished second in the 100 butterfly.
“We're very pleased with both of Jen's races,” Holben said. “She really wanted it and she got it. Both she and Amy are more than capable of scoring at state.”
Prorock had to be the biggest underdog to win at sectional. Her 1:05.93 in the breaststroke topped second- and third-place finishers and qualifiers Rebecca Hatcher of Oswego, also the winner of the 100 butterfly, and Megan Sellers of Metea Valley, who finished fourth at state in the breaststroke the past two years.
Prorock started the season on the JV team and was brought up to the varsity after the first two meets.
“Before the race I just told myself to go out and do my best,” Prorok said. “I never thought I could do this. In fact, while I was in the race, I didn't think I was going that fast. It's a great feeling to win the sectional.”
Four-time defending champion Rosary won the team championship without winning an event. But the Beads'quality depth ruled the day as they qualified all three relays and at least one or two swimmers in every individual event.
“We're still in contention to win state although New Trier is very fast right now,” said Rosary coach Bill Schalz. “We're probably going in as a little bit of an underdog, but we got everyone through but two swimmers.”
The Beads are led by a great class of juniors who return from last year's titlists, including qualifiers Rachel Burke, Emily Launer, Katherine Hare and Sarah Sykstus, as well as diver Grace Miller.
They're joined by senior Gi Sun Pak and first-time qualifiers Kendall Ford, a senior, junior Molly Koonce, sophomore Amber Calderone and freshman Kelly Lehane.
Rosary scored 247 points, but Naperville North at 215 and Neuqua Valley at 214 weren't far behind. Benet, which won both freestyle relays, finished fourth with 204, followed by Oswego co-op with 113, West Chicago with 108 and Naperville Central with 98.
All of those schools had plenty to be happy about after the sectional.
The third-place Wildcats celebrated the twin victories of sophomore Gia Dalesandro, who captured both the 100 backstroke and the 100 freestyle; diver Lauren Mikulecky, who scored her personal-best 451.25 points; and the 200 medley relay team, which finished in 1:47.60.
“We did exactly what we needed to do,” said Wildcats coach Mac Guy. “We got our relays in good position to score points, and so are a number of individuals who qualified.”
Benet athletes had many impressive races, including those victories in both the 200 and 400 free relays.
Three Redwings qualified in a pair of events as well, as Maddi Webb made it in the 200 free and the 100 free, Tori Bertschy made the state cut in both the 200 IM and 100 butterfly and Cristina Favia qualified in both the 200 and the 500 free.
“We're really excited about today's meet,” said Benet coach Sarah Maggio. “This was a result of their great attitude and how they trained all season. We think all of our girls are in a position to score.”
Julia Roller of Naperville Central won the 500 freestyle and qualified in the 100 butterfly. West Chicago's Kelly Dunn won the 200 freestyle and finished second in the 100 free.
“It feels really good to do so well against such great competition,” Dunn said. “I'm shooting for top six this year in both events.”