Girls swimming and diving: Mundelein's Kasemets has breaststroke title in sight
Something special is about to happen for Mundelein junior swimmer Adry Kasemets.
Kasemets got a taste of the state meet the last two years, but this season has taken her game to a whole new level when it comes to the pool.
While Mundelein has had state champions in the past, Kasemets would be the first breaststroke champ for the North Suburban Conference school.
"It would be amazing to be in the top six, but I'm happy with wherever I finish," she said. "I realize all of the training and hard work that goes into this."
The top seed in the 100-yard breaststroke by almost two seconds heading into Friday's prelims of the IHSA swimming and diving state finals hosted by New Trier, Kasemets held her ground.
She swam a time of 1:03.08 to race into Saturday's finals the second seed, right behind New Trier's Kaelyn Gridley, who touched first in a pool record time of 1:00.89.
"I was a little tired after the two earlier swims, but it would be insane to win it," Kasemets said. "I'm gonna do my best to not let her (Gridley) beat me."
While Kasemets was doing her thing, so was Vernon Hills junior Casey Craffey. Craffey was the second seed in the 200 freestyle and on Friday touched in 1:51.53, good for seventh position in the consolation finals.
"It's been a long week and I guess I was a little stressed out," said Craffey, a three-time state qualifier. "I just wanted to make it to the finals and let the chips fall where they may. I think I've got enough in the tank (for Saturday)."
Craffey then made it to the consolation finals in the 500 freestyle, where she finished in 4:58.55 on Friday and currently sits in 10th place.
And after finishing third a year ago, the Cougars' Ally Landis sits in seventh potion heading into the finals on Saturday after amassing 304.45 points in the prelims of the 1-meter diving.
Stevenson was looking to make a splash this weekend as well.
The Patriots qualified all three relays and individuals in every event except one in running away with the Deerfield sectional a week ago.
"That's the most (qualifiers) we've had since I've been here," said Pats coach Kevin Zakrewski of his three relays and qualifiers in eight individual events.
"They've executed the plan perfectly and I couldn't be more proud of them. We were just hoping to get a few swims on Saturday."
That plan continued unfolding during Friday's preliminaries when the 200 medley relay of Elizabeth Cao, Jessica Nyborg, Milena Busma, and Alexandra Eastmond got things going right off the bat with its 1:45.10 time in the 200 medley relay, good for ninth place and a spot in the consolation finals.
Eastmond also qualified 12th in the 100 backstroke in 57.04 ticks, while Nyborg also qualified for the consolation finals after finishing 11th in the 100 breaststroke (1:04.73).
Lake Forest earned a Saturday swim when freshman Mary Grace King qualified for the consolation finals after touching seventh in the 500 freestyle (4:56.89).
Finals on Saturday begin at 11 a.m.