Girls swimming and diving: O'Leary, Graves lead Barrington to 6th place at state
The weather outside at this year's IHSA state girls swimming finals was frightful, but the fiery competition inside was fierce as athletes across the state put everything, they had left into their final races of this high school girls season.
After a strong preliminary showing by the Mid-Suburban League, the teams from Barrington, Fremd, Schaumburg, and Palatine were in good positions to break into higher placings in Saturday's finals.
Barrington came out of the gate gunning for top spots. With a lot of early momentum and a fantastic 400 relay finish, the Fillies placed sixth overall with 94 points.
Neuqua Valley unseated defending state champion Rosary, scoring 185 points to Rosary's 169. New Trier (125), St. Charles North (100) and Lyons (97) rounded out the top five.
The big winners on the day for Barrington were senior Bridget O'Leary, who finished second in the 200 freestyle in a time of 1:50.12, and sophomore Maggie Graves, who took third in the 500 free in a time of 4:52.60.
"I talked to my coach about the fast competition in this event and how I should approach race," said Graves. "I maintained my pace and stuck to my own game plan. I think I did really well."
O'Leary has been constantly helping make the Fillies' goal of a higher placement a reality by being integral to the success of relays and placing well in individual events.
"Obviously by the second day every race hurts a little more," said O'Leary commenting on her 200 free, "but I just went all out for it. We're in the running for a top spot and we just needed to keep up these strong relays and individuals."
O'Leary plans to continue swimming after high school and has committed to the University of Pennsylvania.
Barrington's 200-yard medley relay team of O'Leary, senior Catherine Kitzman, freshman Lilian Reader and senior Ally Penrod started things off right for the fillies, snagging fifth place and posting an impressive time of 1:44.05. This early victory fired the Fillies up and motivated them to success. Every race was an opportunity for the Fillies to score points and that attitude trickled down to every one of their athletes.
Freshman Emily Bucaro swam the consolation portion of the 200 free and finished 11th in a time of 1:53.03, while Reader sneaked ahead of the competition in her 200 IM (2:07.73) taking 10th overall.
On the diving board, Barrington's Anna Mae King represented the Fillies well scoring an impressive score of 404.30 and ending the competition in ninth place.
A ninth-place finish time of 1:36.01 from the 200 free relay team of Bucaro, Schwengel, Reader and Penrod proved the Fillies were still in it to win it and set things up nicely for a strong finish.
Riding the team's wave of success across all levels, the 400 free relay team of Reader, Bucaro, Penrod and O'Leary rounded things out for the Fillies, finishing in fourth place with a time of 3:26.70.
Coach Alex Mikolajewski was satisfied with his team's state performance.
"It was an absolute dogfight between us, St. Charles and Lyons with just a lot of fun competition all around," he said. "Our relay was fast, three seconds ahead of our school record, and it was good enough to get us fourth at state. I'm very proud and we lost to five very fast teams and that's nothing to be disappointed about."
Fremd junior Sophia Kuehn gave another stellar performance in her 200-yard individual medley finishing seventh overall in a time of 2:04.98.
"I did really well at this state meet," said Kuehn." I was right around my best time in both races and I'm really happy with the results."
In the offseason, Kuehn will be going back to her club team and seeing where her swimming career will take her.
Schaumburg freshman Nina Mollin finished her season strong placing sixth in the 200-yard IM, while gaining some great state experience.
"I learned a lot about my strokes and my technique throughout this race," said Mollin. "I thought back to the things I was working on during the season and just went for it."
When asked about her plans for the offseason Mollin laughed.
"There is no offseason," she said. "I'll probably be swimming tomorrow."
Mollin's coach was both equally excited and proud of her performance.
"We're so proud of Nina," said Schaumburg coach Tim O'Grady. "she represented Schaumburg well and really earned her sixth-place spot at prelims. As she keeps coming back each year, I'm sure she'll place higher and higher in this event and others."
Palatine junior Jane Smith returned to steal the consolation final in the 500 free, securing seventh place and posting a time of 4:57.93.
Outside the MSL there were a lot of outstanding swims that certainly left lasting impressions on both competitors and spectators alike.
Maine South junior Annika Wagner shook the competition in the 200-yard IM, breaking a state record and replacing it with a time of 2:00.13, while also placing second in the 500 with an impressive time of 4:48.53.
Coming off her state record-breaking swim from Friday's preliminaries, Rachel Stege came back to win the 500 free with an equally impressive time of 4:47.20 along with contributing to the success of Neuqua Valley's 400 free relay team.
Oswego East junior Grace Cooper retained her preliminary placements and dominated the 50 and 100-yard freestyle events claiming first in both events and posting times of 22.36 and 49.60 in each event respectively.
Rosary senior Athena Ye finished her high school career in the 100 butterfly, posting a time of 54.05.
Junior Megan Armstrong of St. Charles North took first in the 100 back (55.26) and New Trier's Kaelyn Gridley won the final individual event, posting a 1:02.68 in her 100-yard breaststroke.
In diving Evanston senior Lucy Hogan showed her mastery over the board and continued to dominate the competition, finishing off with a score of 450.90.