The girls swimming rivalry between Oak Park-River Forest and Fenwick continued at Saturday’s sectional meet, with host Fenwick eking out a 315-307 edge in the team score to win a sectional title.
When OPRF junior Samantha Neilson’s tech suit ripped prior to competition, she learned that the heated rivalry between the two programs is also built on respect and good will, courtesy of Fenwick coach Renee Miller.
“Renee gave Sam an extra suit that they had, and Sam ended up swimming a lifetime best and making the state backstroke cut,” OPRF coach Clyde Lundgren said. “That’s a pretty remarkable bit of sportsmanship on Renee’s part.”
The Huskies will have eight individual entries at the two-day state meet, which begins Friday at Evanston, plus their 200 freestyle and medley relay teams. The Friars have seven individual entries plus all three of their relay teams, including their 400 freestyle team.
OPRF’s Natalie Ungaretti qualified in the 50 and 100 freestyle events, and her time of 23.67 seconds in the 50 was the seventh-fastest among qualifiers statewide.
Ungaretti, teammate Hanna Blankemeier and Fenwick’s Brooke West all raced without tech suits at the sectional meet. Tech suits can reduce drag and cause compression, which can aid blood flow. Blankemeier qualified in the 100 and 200 freestyle, while West advanced in the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke.
“(West) has grown a lot, and she’s a great kid and a hard worker,” Miller said. “She’s intense, but the important thing with her is that she also knows how to have fun with it and enjoy her race.”
Other Fenwick individual qualifiers included Ellie Carlson in the 200 individual medley, diver Marianna Kania, Perri Stahl in the 100 breaststroke and Grace Rogowski in the 100 butterfly.
Fenwick’s Ciara Mulcahy also qualified in the 50 freestyle and faced a particularly tall order in anchoring Fenwick’s relay teams opposite Ungaretti.
“(Ungaretti) is the top 50-yard freestyler in the state,” Miller said. “Ciara has never even been to a sectional meet. She had a bit of a lead in the medley relay, and she rose to the challenge and hung on. It was impressive to watch her do that.”
OPRF divers Sophie Lever and Yasmin Ruff advanced, along with Alex Gill in the 100 breaststroke and Neilson — in a borrowed tech suit — in the 100 backstroke.
Lundgren was pleased with his team’s effort on Saturday.
“I think we have a little more firepower with our first person, but Fenwick just has such great depth,” he said. “If we swim our lifetime best and place second, we have to be happy with that. Everybody swam well, and they can be really proud of what they accomplished.”
West, who raced in two individual and two relay events at last year’s state meet, will repeat that feat this year. Now a junior, she’s approaching the state finals more committed to something that Miller constantly preaches.
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“(Miller) always says that when you have fun, you swim fast,” West said. “Last year at state I was too nervous and tense. I had to learn to stay positive, relax, and just have fun.
“That’s what we did over the course of the season. That attitude has helped our whole team this year.”
Leyden placed fifth as a team at Saturday’s sectional meet, and Trinity finished eighth. Neither team advanced any individuals to the state finals.
Gary Larsen is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press