Aurora’s Rosary High School was the big winner at the Metea Valley sectional swimming and diving championships on Saturday, but it was followed by all five Naperville area schools, which will each be sending members to the state championships in Evanston this weekend.
Rosary took top honors with 214.5 points, led by its winning 200-yard medley relay. It also benefited from first place performances from sophomore Alexis Yager, who won the 200-yard individual medley (2:07.68), and junior Katie Rentz, who won the 100-yard butterfly (56.8). Waubonsie Valley finished second overall with 176.5 points, followed by Naperville Central in third (172), Naperville North in fourth (166), Metea Valley in fifth (142) and Neuqua Valley in sixth (136) in the 13-team field.
Second place Waubonsie Valley was led by junior Avery Mathew, who set a pool record of 23.69 in winning the 50-yard freestyle. Mathew also would go on to take fourth in the 100-yard freestyle (52.79) and anchor two winning relays for Waubonsie Valley. The 200-yard medley relay team of freshman Julia Burling, sophomore Hannah Hunt, senior Alexa Steffl and Mathew won the title in 1:47:03. Much of the same group returned for the 200-yard freestyle relay, with sophomore Emma Tinney joining Steffl, Hunt and Mathew. They won by nearly a second and a half in 1:35.90. Hunt also won the 100-yard breaststroke for Waubonsie in 1:03.97.
Also qualifying for the state meet for Waubonsie were Tinney in the 200-yard freestyle (she finished third in 1:54.92); Hunt in the 200-yard individual medley (4th, 2:09.80); Steffl in the 50-yard freestyle (4th in 24.00) and 100-yard butterfly (4th, 57.46).
Third place Naperville Central was led by an impressive performance from its diving team, which took the top two spots at the meet. Junior Sydney Dusel finished first with 518.55 points, followed by senior Sophia Heiser in second with 473.35. Dusel enters the state championship meet with the second-best qualifying score in Illinois. Naperville Central also had a first place finish from freshman Audrey Coffey, who won the 500-yard freestyle in 5:02.61.
The Redhawks had two qualifiers in the 100-yard butterfly: junior Caitlin Guccione (5th, 57.53) and senior Beth Ryan (9th, 58.49). Senior Kamryn Gallowich qualified in the 100-yard backstroke (6th, 58.55) and junior Sydney Weeks will go to state in the 100-yard breaststroke (3rd, 1:05.57). Naperville Central also qualified in all three relays — the 200-yard medley, 200-yard freestyle and 400-yard freestyle.
Fourth place Naperville North also will be sending all three relays to the state meet. The 200-yard medley relay of sophomores Maddy May, Hannah Wessell, Emily Chuang and junior Katie Horn finished fourth overall (1:48.09), and the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relay teams (featuring junior Taylor Stoner, freshman Connie Zhang, freshman Alli Horn, junior Emily Huff and Katie Horn) finished third in both events.
Naperville North’s Stoner also qualified in the 50-yard freestyle, in which she finished seventh (24.43), while Chuang finished eighth (58.28) in the 100-yard butterfly and fifth in the 100-yard backstroke (58.36) to punch her ticket to the state meet in two individual events. Chuang’s time in the backstroke broke a school record that was set in 2003. Both Katie Horn (3rd, 52.64) and Stoner (9th, 53.10) qualified in the 100-yard freestyle. Junior Patti Littell (5th, 398.65 points) and sophomore Regan Repsholdt (7th, 379.00 points) both qualified in diving.
“We swam extremely well,” Naperville North coach Andy McWhirter said. “One hundred percent of our swimmers dropped time. A couple of swims just missed qualifying, but they dropped 6-plus seconds. … The girls surprised themselves with how fast they swam.”
He’s optimistic about the state competition on Friday and Saturday.
“(We have) lofty goals to get everyone to swim on Saturday,” he said. “Our major goals are with the relays. If each girl hits her mark and goal time, they will have a good chance to swim on Saturday.”
Fifth place Metea Valley won the 400-yard freestyle relay with a team of freshman Anna Scovill and juniors Jacquelyn Kurkjian, Madeline Sandberg and Amanda Burson in 3:31.83. Their 200-yard freestyle relay team of freshman Sadie Gregory, Scovill, Sandberg and Burson finished second in 1:37.25 to qualify for state as well. On the individual side, their freestylers led them as well. Sandberg won the 100-yard freestyle (52.29), with Burson finishing 6th (53.01) to also qualify for state. The duo also qualified in the 50 free, with Burson finishing second (23.84) and Sandberg fifth (24.08). Kurkjian (4th, 58.32) and senior Hannah Davidsen (8th, 58.63) qualified in the 100-yard backstroke, while sophomore diver Nicole Cast finished sixth (398.00 points) to make the state meet as well.
Finally, sixth place Neuqua Valley was led by its 200-yard medley relay team of sophomore Elizabeth Mordach, senior Natalie McGovern, junior Isabel French and sophomore Amanda Brockmeier. The team finished third overall in 1:47.90. The 400-yard freestyle relay of sophomore Wyli Erlechman, senior Mackenzie Hornstra, McGovern and senior Bhavya Kumaran qualified for state with a sixth place finish in 3:36.27.
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On the individual side, junior Lauren Beyer (3rd, 459.55 points) and senior Michelle Roth (4th, 426.95 points) qualified for diving, and senior Natalie McGovern qualified for the 100-yard backstroke (2nd, 58.04) and 100-yard butterfly (7th, 58.05). In the 100-yard breaststroke, both Brockmeier (2nd, 1:05.43) and French (6th, 1:06.84) advanced to the state meet.
The state championship, held this year at Evanston Township High School, will be held on Nov. 21 and 22.