Without even a single Fenwick senior competing in the IHSA Girls State Swimming and Diving Finals, the Friars were still able to capture fifth place overall at Evanston High School on Saturday.
The 200-yard freestyle team, comprised of two freshmen, a sophomore and a junior, swam to Fenwick’s best finish. Mimi Schneider, Haley Wickham, Paulina Kaminski and Maureen Barron took second with a time of 1:36.41, nearly beating out Rosary’s relay team that finished in 1:36.10.
Along with freshman Cara Borkovec, Schneider, Barron and Kaminski also had a hand in helping the 400-yard freestyle relay team finish fourth with a time of 3:30.06. Schneider, Barron, Haley Wickham and Veronica Gibson placed seventh in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:46.53, setting a new team record.
Schneider, a freshman making her state debut, and Barron, a junior, also had success in separate individual events. Schneider finished third in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 51.40 seconds, while Barron placed fifth in the 50-yard freestyle (24.22 seconds).
Fenwick diver Michelle Kalupski finished 12th overall with a final score of 337.25.
“Overall, we swam well in this meet,” said Fenwick swim coach Renee Miller. “We had a few places [in the prelims] where we thought we might get a swimmer in and it did not happen, but our relays definitely swam well and that helped us stay in the top five. The team really came together to have a great swim on Saturday.”
New Trier (198.5) won the meet, while Loyola (126), Rosary (122.5) and Downers Grove North (114) rounded out second through fourth places respectively. Fenwick finished with 85 points.
