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Girls swimming: St. Charles East wins sectional

For the third time this season, St. Charles East and St. Charles North eyed each other across a girls swimming pool, and the result was a further affirmation of just how deep the talent is this year.

In Saturday's St. Charles East sectional, and for the first time this season, the host Saints edged their crosstown rivals 288.5-255. In the process, the Saints qualified 15 entries for next weekend's state meet at New Trier. St. Charles North sizzled as well, qualifying 11 swim entries and diver Katie Schutz.

Bartlett qualified a pair of relays and three individual entries and Huntley and the Crystal Lake co-op added a qualifier apiece.

For St. Charles East, the meet marked a steady procession of decent swims, though the Saints only won the 200 freestyle through Amy Pearson and the 100 butterfly through Anna O'Malley.

"The girls swam hard," St. Charles East coach Joe Cabel said. "We had some good movement by some girls to get some points and we had some great improvement by some people."

The bulk of the Saints' individual qualifiers have been to the state meet before. Pearson (200 freestyle and 500 freestyle) and O'Malley (200 freestyle and 100 butterfly) qualified in two events apiece, as did Jordan Morling (200 IM and 100 backstroke), Isabel Herb (100 butterfly and 100 backstroke) and Kayla Jones (100 freestyle and 100 breaststroke.) Lucy Johnson qualified in the 200 IM and Rachel Nagler advanced in the 100 freestyle.

"Everyone's been working so hard this season," O'Malley said. "It paid off. I think winning the sectional is going to have a positive impact for everybody going into the state meet."

Few of the Saints rested prior to Saturday's meet, saving their time drop-inducing taper for the coming week, in preparation for the state meet. That left swimmers in a position of fighting through exhaustion in order to make their time cuts.

"I'm really excited to start tapering, and I know everyone else is, because we're all really tired," O'Malley said. "This week has not been easy, but it paid off. I think everyone's excited for state."

Jones, having qualified after swimming third-best in the 100 freestyle, dropped time to qualify in the 100 breaststroke.

"I was kind of nervous in the breaststroke, but it's easier here with everyone supporting me," Jones said. "I knew I could do it because I've been training hard and you feel more confident when everyone's there cheering. The 100 free, I did not see that coming."

O'Malley opened the meet by qualifying the school's medley relay with Morling, Jones and Herb. The Saints qualified all three relays on Saturday.

St. Charles North won that medley relay with a quartet of Audrey Guyett, Jillian Waslawski, Mallory Jump and Samantha Sauer, in a near pool record time of 1:45.06. The North Stars swept all three relays, and concluded the meet when Audrey Guyett, Sauer, Kayleigh Lewis and Monica Guyett broke the longest-standing record at the St. Charles East's pool - the 3:31.53 set by the 1999 Saints, a quartet that went to win the state title.

"It was a typical sectional meet, where most of us weren't tapered," Sauer said. "But we still swam really well, and the girls who were tapered swam really well. We're just really looking forward to next weekend, to see what we can accomplish at that big meet."

Monica and Audrey Guyett each qualified in two individual events. Monica was second in the 200 freestyle while Audrey won the 100 backstroke. The sisters finished 1-2 in the 500 freestyle, with Audrey finishing in 4:56.44, two-tenths ahead of Monica.

Jump advanced from the 200 IM, Sauer qualified in the 100 freestyle and Rachel Ponte qualified in the 100 breaststroke to complete the North Stars qualifiers.

"We're all in the middle of our taper, and we all feel pretty heavy in the water," Sauer said. "But by the end of next week, we'll be feeling great. We needed to push through this meet, get our cuts and make sure we got as many people to the state meet as possible. I think we did really well."

The North Stars take a strong group to New Trier. Grace Samuelson, a senior, qualified on the school's 200 freestyle relay and returns to the state meet as well.

"It wasn't my best meet, which happens," Samuelson said. "But we had a great meet as a team, and that's what matters. You could feel the ups and downs. When girls missed their cuts by a tenth of a second, that was disappointing. But you just had to keep looking forward to the next race."

The experienced core of St. Charles North's team neither rested for the sectional nor put on their fast suits. Some wore a faster suit but did not rest. Still others tapered in an attempt to qualify for the state meet and gain experience. North Stars coach Rob Rooney was pleased with his team's performance.

"The kids that made their cuts were spot-on for what they had to do," Rooney said. "I don't care who you are, you always walk out of the sectional saying there were a couple of things you wish would have happened another way. We had just a few tenths go against us in getting our freshmen through. The breaks kind of went against us, and I do care about that. But I think we're set up well for next week."

Bartlett-Streamwood's Kayla Filipek re-emphasized her status as one of the state's premier sprint freestyle swimmers by winning the 50 freestyle and the 100 freestyle. She also swam on the school's qualifying 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relay teams.

"The 100 was the best I've gone this season," Filipek said. "I'm happy about that. I kind of hoped to be in a better spot, but I'm not in a bad spot. I feel pretty good going to state.

Sarah Hanning is the school's other qualifier. After injury prevented her from competing as a junior, she capped her final state sectional by qualifying in the 100 butterfly.

"She swam 56.9, which is her lifetime best," Bartlett-Streamwood coach Jeremy Meserole said. "Coming off of shoulder surgery and being able to do that is great for her. I think she kind of surprised herself in this meet. She went 24.1 to anchor our 200 free relay and 52.3, anchoring our 400 free relay."

The Sabrehawks take an experienced group to New Trier. In addition to Filipek and Hanning, relay swimmer Brianna Cichon has experience at the state meet. Kelly Morgan swam with Filipek, Hanning and Cichon in the 200 freestyle relay while the 400 freestyle relay quartet was Filipek, Cichon, Paige Edmier and Hanning.

"We basically had lifetime bests all the way around," Meserole said. "There was one event that wasn't quite there, but that was OK. But we had school records in the medley relay, the 200 IM, the 100 fly and the 200 and 400 free relays. It was a great meet for us."

Huntley has qualifier in junior Kristen Czarnecki, who advanced in the 200 IM and the 100 butterfly.

"I really didn't expect that time (2:07.89) in the 200 IM," Czarnecki said. "I tried going out fast, switching up what I normally do. That helped me in the long run."

Czarnecki said she tapered for the sectional meet in order to qualify for the first time.

"This was the main meet for the whole season," Czsarnecki said.

Crystal Lake Central's Valerie Tarazi may be her team's only qualifier, but she heads to the state meet with a pair of sectional titles to her name - the sophomore won the 200 IM and the 100 breaststroke.

"I'm really happy because I'm not fully-rested yet," Tarazi said. "I think, going into state next week, I'm set up really well. It wasn't best times today, which I didn't want. Next week if for best times."

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