This is a thorough recap, so be sure to check it out and to follow @takeyourmarks23 on twitter!
Thanks, @takeyourmarks23, for being the first guest contributor on a recap!
NSC Recap - by @TakeYourMarks23
The top three teams of the meet, Libertyville, and Stevenson suited their entire teams. Lake Forest suited a few girls for certain events and the medley relay, but otherwise no surprise suitings.
200 Medley Relay:
After being told to relaxed not once, but TWICE, the medley relays exploded. All top three teams were suited (LIB, LF, STEV). Libertyville (1:47.47) led from start to finish. They swam lights out! It's no doubt that they wanted to win conference, but why would you risk your sectional and state tapers with fast suits and rest? Lake Forest (1:48.17) had a great swim as well with a notable split from Daria Psyhnenko with a 23.62 to anchor. Stevenson (1:50.04) was the last suited team, and they battled with Warren (1:51.37) for 3rd place. Vernon Hills (1:53.53) and Mundelein (1:55.85) rounded out the top six.
200 Freestyle:
1. Erin Falconer (Mundelein) 1:52.96 - Falconer blew away the field by over two body lengths!
2. Haley Nelson (Lake Forest) 1:54.91 - Nelson held her own considering she was swimming in between Falconer and the rest of the pack.
3. Iza Pelka (Stevenson) 1:57.17
4. Shayna Salzman (Stevenson) 1:57.18
5. Siobhan Prince (Liberyville) 1:59.49 6. Lucy Saucedo (Libertyville) 1:59.79
200 IM:
1. Riley Lanigan (Lake Forest) 2:08.27 - what seemed like an easy win to most for Lanigan going in turned out to be a battle with second seed, and newcomer, Anhelina Kustko. However, Lanigan had a great race, and pulled through for the win.
2. Anhelina Kustko (Grant) 2:08.71 - This girl seemed to come out of nowhere, and to us Americans, she did. What's been heard around the pool deck and stands is that she just recently moved here from Russia, and she doesn't even swim for a high school that has a team! She's previously a 51 100 freestyler and a 56 100 butterflier.
3. Macey Neubauer (Liberyville) 2:10.64 [Suited]
4. Emma Richert (Libertyville) 2:10.83 [Suited]
5. Jenn Kordik (Mundelein) 2:11.50 - This was impressive just because Kordik almost touched out two suited girls, when she herself was not.
6. Irune Andres (Stevenson) 2:12.46 [Suited]
50 Freestyle:
1. Daria Pyschnenko (Lake Forest) 24.23 - It was nice to her back on the pool deck in a suit. Come on guys, it's never a good thing to see a fellow swimmer hurt. She did surprisingly well despite being back in the pool only a couple weeks.
2. Courtney Barker (Warren) 24.43 - It almost appeared as if Pyschnenko would be beaten. Barker held her own. She’s had a great season up until this point, and it will be exciting to see how she does at Sectionals and State the next two weeks.
3. Maddie Smith (Lake Forest) 24.60 - Smith was another swimmer who looked to have the potential to beat Pyschnenko, but she held her own anyway despite having Barker and Pyschnenko pass her.
4. Lisa Cheng (Vernon Hills) 24.90 - It appears that Cheng will finally qualify for her first State meet. Due to health complications and fluke swims, she had not qualified in the past, but this may be her year.
5. Staci Herchenbach (Libertyville) 25.00
6. Harriet Davies (Libertyville) 25.12
Team Scores After the 50:
1. Lake Forest 137
2. Libertyville 128
3. Stevenson 85
4. Mundelein 77
5. Warren 48
6. Vernon Hills 39
--It appears at this point it seems that Mundelein could surpass Stevenson and Vernon Hills could surpass Warren. How big would those upsets be?
100 Butterfly:
1. Riley Lanigan (Lake Forest) 57.88 - No surprise here. Lanigan has been dominant in this event at this conference (as in the IM) since she was a freshman.
2. Ashlin Ruiz (Stevenson) 58.09 [Suited] - Ruiz gave a good fight against Lanigan in this race. However, the suit played a big role in this event for her. It will be interesting to see how much more she drops at Sectionals and potentially State.
3. Jo Annin (Lake Forest) 58.68
4. Staci Herchenbach (Libertyville) 58.81
5. Jessica Lenhart (Stevenson) 59.53
6. Harriet Davies (Libertyville) 59.86
--It was interesting, the swimmer who got second in the 200 IM, Kutsko, pulled out of this event prior to the start of the meet. She is a 56 100 flyer, so I wonder why she pulled out. Grant only has two swimmers (Kutsko and Dague), so she wasn’t saving herself for another race or a relay. Intersting.
100 Freesyle
1. Erin Falconer (Mundelein) 52.44 - It looked as if Falconer might not win this event because Smith was right with her until the second turn. However, Falconer had just a bit more left in the tank on the last 25 to pull through for the win.
2. Maddie Smith (Lake Forest) 53.53 - Like I said before, Smith had a great swim against one of the best in the state. Sectionals will be a great show down between these two and State as well.
3. Lisa Cheng (Vernon Hills) 53.65 - I’m telling you, this will be Cheng’s year. With times like these, there’s no reason she can’t qualify next Saturday.
4. Courtney Barker (Warren) 53.71 - When you look at it, Barker had a good swim, but then again, so did the other three girls ahead of her. This event was PACKED!
5. Casey Kirby (Stevenson) 54.11 - Kirby has had to fill some big shoes since the graduation of some big seniors, but she rose to the occasion today as all of the top six finishers were from different schools.
6. Emma Richert (Libertyville) 54.40 - It was great to see Libertyville get a sprinter up there in the 100 free. This was a pretty fast conference in this event - with a 54-mid being the bottom of the podium.
500 Freestyle
1. Ashlin Ruiz (Stevenson) 5:07.64 - As I had mentioned earlier, I think the tech suit played a big role in this, BUT Ruiz dropped 15 seconds in this event from her season best. Which begs to differ if she was rested?
2. Shayna Salzman (Stevenson) 5:16.07 - It was nice to see Stevenson getting the top two spots in an event. They are overlooked now that a lot of their previous speed graduated last year. Salzman had a nice swim despite Ruiz being so far ahead.
3. Olivia Lomax (Lake Forest) 5:18.10
4. Elise Vondra (Lake Forest) 5:18.81
5. Shannon Dague (Grant) 5:19.66 - Despite gaining 2.6 seconds, RACED! She definitely pushed Vondra along, and it will be interesting to see how she does next week with a suit.
6. Lauren Blake (Mundelein) 5:27.33 - Mundelein hasn’t had distance in a long while, so that was nice to see. Only Blake’s taper will tell whether she can drop those crucial 17 seconds to qualify for her first (and last) state meet
200 Freestyle Relay
1. Lake Forest 1:38.54
2. Libertyville 1:39.20 - Once again wearing suits, Libertyville dropped a full second from their seed time. As I have said time and time again, it will be interesting to see how they perform the next two weeks.
3. Mundelein 1:40.97
4. Vernon Hills 1:41.10 - Vernon Hills surprised I think just about everyone when they almost beat the defending state champs. However, Mundelein didn’t have their top relay swimmers in order for this swim.
5. Stevenson 1:41.22
6. Warren 1:46.63
Team Scores After 200 Free Relay:
1. Lake Forest 249
2. Libertyville 205
3. Stevenson 187
4. Mundelein 128
5. Vernon Hills 86
6. Warren 80
--The pressure is on for Warren at this point. Vernon Hills has passed them, so they need crucial points in the back half.
100 Backstroke:
1. Haley Nelson (Lake Forest) 58.23 - A very impressive swim for Nelson. She won easily, and the swim looked effortless.
2. Siobhan Prince (Libertyville) [Suited] 59.16 - It’s clear Libertyville was rested for this meet. Siobhan had a great swim, dropping 3 seconds!
3. Casey Kirby (Stevenson) 59.78
4. Meredith Robbins (Libertyville) [Suited] & Jordan Rule (Libertyville) [Suited] 1:00.59 - In the only tie of the meet, these two team mates had a great battle in the backstroke!
6. Laura Gottschalk (Lake Forest) 1:01.97
100 Breaststroke
1. Jenn Kordik (Mundelein) 1:06.88 - Great swim for Kordik as this is a good time that we haven’t seen from her in a while. However, the most impressive thing about this is that she was 2nd at the wall behind Neubauer, and half of the girls swimming this event were tapered. Great things to come in the upcoming weeks for her.
2. Macey Neubauer (Libertyville) [Suited] 1:07.03 - Neubauer had a great first 50, 31.42. She really raced Kordik, but her pullouts came up just short of Kordik’s. This is going to be a showdown next weekend for the Sectional champ. It’s not doubt that this event is loaded for the state meet already, and with Neubauer and Kordik now in the mix, it’s just going to be more exciting.
3. Irune Andres (Stevenson) [Suited] 1:07.92 - What a great swim for Andres! A 2.2 second drop from her season best time! She was able to hang with Kordik and Neubauer, and hopefully she’ll be able to get under the cut next weekend at Sectionals.
4. Lily Hemesath (Vernon Hills) 1:08.95 - We’ve seen Hemesath swim this fast when she went up against Kordik head to head at their dual back last month. With a suit next week, I’d like to see her get under the cut as well.
5. Danielle Fang (Stevenson) 1:09.01
6. Kayla Smith (Lake Forest) 1:09.85 - It was nice to see Lake Forest get a breaststroke onto the podium, since they typically are not known for having breaststrokers.
400 Freestyle Relay:
1. Lake Forest 3:34.59
2. Libertyville 3:35.65 [Suited]
3. Mundelein 3:40.70
4. Warren 3:41.07
5. Vernon Hills 4:04.10
6. Zion-Benton 4:08.51
--The big upset here was the Stevenson DQ’ed!
Final Team Standings:
1. Lake Forest 318
2. Libertyville 285
3. Stevenson 232
4. Mundelein 174
5. Vernon Hills 122
6. Warren 112
Overall, Libertyville was crowned Conference champs, which was nice to see. All the teams swam great and have great momentum heading into Sectionals!
Great recap by @takeyourmarks23! If you want to get some publicity about your team, email me at [email protected]