By Marissa Mirallegro and Ella Helfer
On Sat, Oct 27, the girls’ varsity swim team placed second and the girls JV swim team placed first at the six-team Upstate Eight Conference swim meet at West Chicago High School. The team said it was thrilled with the results after a long, hard-fought season.
“We did really well in conference and we needed to do good individually so we could do good as a team,” said Andrea Bullman, a JV swimmer. “We did great.”
Bullman swam the 200 freestyle for her first event and placed sixth. In her second event, the 100 freestyle, she finished ninth. For her third event, she swam the 200 freestyle relay and placed sixth. Finally, her last event was the 400 freestyle relay, where her heat finished in 14th for JV.
Annabelle Kinerk, a varsity swimmer, placed first in the 200-yard medley race and finished second in the 400-yard free relay. Kinerk also placed third in the 50-yard free and the 100-yard free. Kinerk scored 24 points overall.
The girls swim team was undefeated in the regular in dual meets and they earned either second or third in all invitationals.
Ashley Sego, another varsity swimmer, also placed first in the 200-yard medley race and finished second in the 200-yard IM, 200-yard free relay, and 100-yard breast. Sego scored 26 points overall.
“I got all the best times in the events I swam,” said Kayleigh Kuschewski.
Kuschewski swam two relays which were the 200 medley race, where they placed first, and the 200-yard free relay, in which they also placed first. Individually, she swam 200 IM where she placed second and the 100 backstroke for JV, where she placed first.
Kelly Sego, a varsity swimmer, finished with the highest total points with 32 overall. Sego placed first in 200-yard medley relay alongside Sego and Kinerk. Sego also placed first on the 200-yard IM and the 100-yard back. Sego also placed second on the 400 free relay
“Well…I was feeling many things at once,” Liliana Larson said on her feelings before the meet. “I was feeling nervous, scared, excited, and weirdly older. Excited to show that I can really be a help to the team. And wanted to show everyone what I am able to do now compared to the beginning of the season. Scared and nervous because I really didn’t want to let down my team and bring them down. I also felt weirdly older because this was my first big meet and everything was so new and professional like! On the way to the meet, my dad played music in the car to calm me down which helped a ton.“
Larson swam 50 freestyle and placed second place in her heat. For her second event, she swam a 100 freestyle and finished third place in her heat. For her third event, she swam a 200 freestyle and placed third. Finally, for her last event, she swam a 400 freestyle relay and placed first for JV.
The meet started at one in the afternoon and lasted four hours at the West Chicago Pool. The girls were tired, but satisfied with the results of the meet.
“Well, I felt a bit down knowing that we didn’t win. But happy that we technically won.” Larson said. “Our varsity got second place and JV got first place. But they only count the Varsity part of the team to determine if your team won. Also, I felt a bit sad that the season was over and that I won’t be able to see the seniors again because it’s their last year and all. But I felt proud of not only myself but for the entire team.”
The girls swim team accomplished quite a bit this year with the results at the UEC meet, putting an exclamation point on their season.