Girls swimming and diving: Barrington wins 4th straight MSL title
Saturday's Mid-Suburban League girls swimming and diving championship meet was just another day at the office, according to Barrington senior diver Anna Mae King.
"Kind of like a business trip today," said King, who won the diving title at the meet held at the Fremd pool. "Getting our stuff done, we knew what we could do in the pool and on the board. Feels great - we worked so hard for this."
Barrington won its 4th straight MSL title, earning 291 points to best second place Hersey, which scored 242.5 points.
King won the diving crown with a total of 447.95, outpointing Hersey's Allyson Blumenfeld, who scored 444 to finish second.
"Kind of crazy that this is our fourth season," said King, who will diving for Boston College next year. "My last year at Barrington, so it's really rewarding to get the championship."
"She's relentless," said Barrington coach Alex Mikolajewski of King. "Her work ethic is amazing, and she deserves everything that she gets."
Barrington's Alyssa Schwengel won the 50-yard freestyle in the time of 24.38; the Fillies took the 200-yard free relay behind Julie Vega, Emilay Bucaro, Lilian Reader and Schwengel; and Barrington was best in the 400 free relay in the time of 3:36.44, with Bucaro, Lauren Holman, Rebecca Galovich, and Schwengel leading the way.
"The times today weren't necessarily what we were looking for," said Mikolajewski, on a day when many Fremd pool records fell. "Kind of a good place to see where we're at in the season, see how we're training, and see how we can adjust moving forward."
Buffalo Grove (183.5 points) finished third in the team race, while host Fremd (153) was fourth.
Other winners included the Hersey 200 medley relay with Mollie Lumsden, Manggie Papanicholas, Brooke Martin and Ella Salm; Jane Smith of Palatine won the 200 free in the time of 1:54.82; while Nina Mollin of Schaumburg took the 200 IM in the time of 2:06.14.
The 100-yard backstroke was won by Madison Dohrn (57.65), while Hersey's Maggie Papanicholas was first in the 100-yard breaststroke, with a 1:03.86, a time that just missed besting the MSL record.
The final event of the day, the 400 free relay, was won by Barrington (Bucaro, Galovich, Holman and Schwengel.)
Schaumburg's Nina Mollin won the strenuous 500 free with a time of 5:00.48, a pool record.
"I was mentally preparing myself all day today," said Mollin, a sophomore. "Just came out today to do my best. I didn't really have a huge plan today because I didn't want to stress myself out. I've been working really hard for this and it's nice to see all the hard work paid off."
Nina Mollin was victorious in the 200-yard IM (2:06.14) where Sophia Kuehn of the host Vikings posted a third-place finish.
"It's kind of sad," said Kuehn of the final MSL meet for the Vikings. "All my teammates were supporting me and I love the atmosphere of this school.
"it's probably going to hit me tonight that this is my last conference meet," added Kuehn. "I really was able to execute today, make all my turns and gave my best effort. We had goals today and absolutely crushed them, and I'm so proud of my teammates."