Sweet swim for Cary-Grove’s Rose
Cary-Grove sophomore Melissa Rose improved upon her sectional time in the 100-yard breaststroke by almost half a second in the preliminaries of the girls swimming high school state meet on Friday.
Too bad for her a lot of other swimmers had the same idea.
Rose finished in 1:07.08, which placed her 23rd in the event at Evanston Township High School.
The top 12 finishers from prelims get another chance to race Saturday, as the swimming diving finalists race one more time in a session that begins at 1 p.m.
“It’s a tough place to swim fast,” said her coach, Scott Lattyak. “You’ve got the noise, the pressure of the state meet. Considering all that, I think it was a really nice swim.”
Rose’s time was just off the 1:06 she was hoping for, but as Lattyak pointed out, her effort Friday was still a close third on her lifetime best list.
“Any time you make one of these elite meets, you try to learn from it,” he said.
Marisa Barton of the Crystal Lake co-op team will get another chance to compete. She had the seventh-fastest time in the 50 freestyle (23.71) and will have center lane for Saturday’s consolation championship heat.
Huntley senior Chanel Curtis competed in the 50 free, too, and placed 50th in 25.02.
Glenbrook South senior Olivia Smoliga again wowed fans with two state record-breaking swims.
She won the 50 free in 22.21, and the 100 backstroke in 51.84.
New Trier is positioned to win its third straight team championship after a dominant performance in the prelims.