Girls swimming and diving: Barrington notches sectional championship
Last season as a freshman, Barrington's Emily Bucaro got a taste of what the girls state finals swimming event was all about.
Even though she finished down the line in the 100-yard freestyle, Bucaro has put in the work and practice time to improve her skills.
Saturday afternoon at the Barrington sectional, Bucaro won two events and participated in two other events won by the Fillies, who also won the team championship.
"For Emily, it's all about hard work and getting after it," said Barrington coach Alex Mikolajewski. "She's in the pool at 6:15 a.m. working out with some of the other girls and it's good to see that. She's the type of person that she's going to succeed in any environment. She's a leader and she just does an excellent job. Anything she did today doesn't surprise me."
Bucaro started off her day by winning the 200-yard freestyle in 1:52.06 over Palatine's impressive Jane Smith. Bucaro would use a strong start in winning the 100 freestyle in 52.42, besting Cary-Grove's Emily Marks 54.24.
Bucaro participated in the 200 medley relay along with Julie Vega, Lillian Reeder and Alyssa Schwengel that qualified for next week's state finals at New Trier High School. Bucaro gave Barrington a big start in the 400 free relay that the Fillies won in 3:31.75 to also qualify.
"I just push the whole way no matter what race it is," said Bucaro. "I just go and try to do the best that I can. My starts have been progressing throughout the year. I've really developed my reaction times to the starts."
Barrington finished with 311.50 points to Hersey's 264.50. Prospect finished third with 154, Fremd at 151 and Palatine at 150.
The Fillies were first in eight events and second in two others.
In the diving event, Barrington's Ann Mae King bested Prospect's Posso Gonzalez 496.25 to 469.85.
Fremd senior Sophia Kuehn edged Reader 2:05.24 to 205.96 as both girls advanced to the state finals in the 200 individual medley. Kuehn also took top honors (1:03.52) with a win over Vega in the 100 breaststroke to advance to the finals.
"My backstroke really got me going in that event," said Kuehn. "I knew Lillian would be coming after me and I really had to hold on. I had to dig deep to pull that one out."
Schwengel won the 50 freestyle and qualified for state with a 23.57 finish over teammate Jenna Kerr, who finished with a 24.44.
"The hard work has paid off for me," said Schwengel. "You have to have a good mindset and be in the zone in the sprint. You just have to know that you can do it. You give it all you've got and leave it in the pool."
Barrington's Emma Pritchett was the only state final qualifier in the 100-yard butterfly, finishing in 57.21.
"Today my turns were a little sloppy, but otherwise I did well," said Pritchett. "I love the butterfly event. I knew deep down that I could do it and I know that I can do better."
The 500-yard freestyle saw Reader and teammate Maggie Graves go neck-and-neck before Reader etched out a 4:54.11 finish to Graves' 4:54.84. Both qualified for state as did Smith of Palatine with a 5:03.48 and St. Viator's Olivia Dorshorst, who finished with a 5:06.68.
"I've trained all year for this event," said Reader. "Watching Maggie finish second in the state last year just motivated me more. We're good friends and good competitors so that really helps us compete. I've learned that if you put in hard work it never goes away. "
Hersey freshman Maggie Papanicholas took top honors in the 100 breaststroke, besting Vega with a 1:03.52.
The best feel good story of the day was the third-place finish of Palatine's Margaret O'Brien in the 100 yard backstroke. Assigned to the fourth event of five, O'Brien led all they way in her heat to win in 57.86.
"I felt real good this morning at breakfast," said O'Brien. "I really wanted this and I was ready to go. I thought I could do well today. Being in the fourth heat didn't bother me. I just wanted to do my best."
O'Brien qualified for the state finals next week.