After finishing in second place in the Central Suburban League Invite on Nov. 9 at Niles West, the Evanston Township High School girls swim team looked to carry that strong performance into the Glenbrook South Sectional on Nov. 16. And they did, finishing fourth in the Sectional with 164 points. Archrival New Trier took the top spot with 275 points, followed by Loyola with 243 and Glenbrook South with 180. Making the Kits’ fourth-place finish even better was the fact that they advanced six individuals and three relay teams to the state meet.
“[The Sectional was a] great meet,” said Head Coach Kevin Auger. “[We] surpassed even my very high expectations, [starting] with junior Katie Budde qualifying in diving.”
Indeed, Budde’s total of 376 points earned her a fifth-place finish. Sophomore Honore Collins finished third in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:09 and came in fifth in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 58.05 seconds. Coach Auger said, “Honore broke our sophomore team records and qualified for State in the 200-yard IM and 100-yard backstroke while lopping four seconds and two seconds off her best times.”
Also qualifying in the 100-yard backstroke was sophomore Paige Haden, who clocked in shortly after Collins at 58.43 seconds, which was good for seventh. “Paige was just off the sophomore record in the 100-yard backstroke and qualified,” said Auger.
Sophomore Ana Woods took fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:05.34, and senior Rosselyn Lopez took seventh at 1:06.80. In addition, sophomore Iana Wolff came in second in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 56.99 seconds to round out the Kits individual qualifiers.
“Iana easily qualified in the 100-yard fly, missing the sophomore record by one tenth of a second, then led out the 200-yard free relay just four one-hundredths off the sophomore record,” said Auger. “Ana [Woods] broke the 100-yard breast sophomore record and easily qualified for State.” The coach added, “Our only senior, Rosselyn Lopez, also easily qualified in the 100-yard breast.”
Also advancing were the 200-yard freestyle relay team of Wolff, junior Millie Rosen, Lopez and Woods, who took second with a time of 1:37.41. Additionally, the 200-yard medley relay team of Collins, Woods, Wolff and Lopez finished third with a time of 1:46.18, and the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Wolff, Collins, Haden and Woods qualified with a time of 3:36.22.
“Our 200-yard medley relay team dropped four seconds to qualify almost three seconds under the cut and sixth in the state,” said Coach Auger. “The 400-yard free relay team was also a sophomore record by over seven seconds.” He added, “It was a great time had by all.”
Those advancing individuals and relay teams for the Kits hope to keep those great times going when they participate in the State Meet at New Trier on Nov. 22-23.