Oak Park and River Forest had the stars, but Fenwick took home the hardware.
Spurred by two state-meet veterans and a host of newcomers, the host Friars won their own girls swimming sectional for the 14th consecutive year on Saturday.
Fenwick edged crosstown rival OPRF 315-307 to top a 15-team field. Northside was a distant third with 179 points.
“The exciting part was the girls rose to the occasion,” Fenwick coach Renee Miller said. “We have a pretty young team.
“I graduated six from the (2015) state team and out of 14 total (in the sectional lineup) I only have five that are returning.”
OPRF, which was ranked third in the state before the meet, qualified eight individuals for next weekend’s state meet at Evanston, one more than Fenwick. But the Friars got all three of their relays through while the Huskies only qualified two.
Fenwick began the meet on a high note by winning the 200-yard medley relay in 1 minute, 45.30 seconds. The quartet of junior Brooke West, sophomore Perri Stahl, junior Grace Rogoswski and sophomore Ciara Mulcahy edged OPRF by .44 seconds.
“It’s amazing that we can win this,” Miller said. “I replaced three of my swimmers (on that relay) and we are still pretty strong.”
Fenwick was the only team to qualify in the meet-closing 400 freestyle relay. Mulcahy, Rogoswski, Stahl and West timed 3:34.69 to swamp runner-up Riverside-Brookfield by over seven seconds.
Fenwick barely missed sweeping the relays. The 200 free squad of Mulcahy, Rogoswski, Stahl and senior Kelly Frumkin clocked 1:36.85, just .27 behind OPRF.
In the individual events, senior Ellie Carlson won the 200 individual medley in 2:11.96, while Rogoswski won the 100 butterfly in 58.18 and West captured the 100 backstroke in 57.07.
West also made the cut in the 100 freestyle, where she timed 52.04 to finish third, while Mulcahy advanced in the 50 free, taking second in 24.3, and Stahl qualified in the 100 breaststroke with a runner-up 1:05.64.
Rogoswski and West will be making their third appearances at state, while Carlson, Mulcahy and Stahl are going for the first time.
West has the best shot of earning a top-12 medal at state. She had the ninth-fastest sectional time in the state in the backstroke and 12th-best in the 100 free.
“I think Brooke is a really strong worker,” Miller said. “Brooke is really excited and energized by her experience from last year and wants to build on that. This year she’d like to score.”
Huskies ready for state meet
Most of the local scoring, however, will likely come from OPRF. The Huskies have two returning state medalists in senior Hanna Blankemeier and sophomore Natalie Ungaretti.
Ungaretti, who was ninth in the 50 free at last year’s state meet, won sectional titles in that event in 23.67 and the 100 free, where she timed 51.59 to edge Blankemeier by .10.
“I was really happy with both my events,” Ungaretti said. “I was really happy to race with Brooke (West). It is great to see not just me doing well in the (50) but getting three people through.”
Despite her success in the 50 last year, Ungaretti sees her best shot at a state title coming in the 100, where she has enjoyed a friendly rivalry with Blankemeier, who was a state title contender last year before being disqualified in the preliminaries.
 “I’ve always considered myself to be a 50 swimmer, but this year I’ve been working on mentally becoming (able to swim other) races,” Ungaretti said. “It’s about having fun and going as fast as I can.”
Blankemeier, who also won a sectional title in the 200 free, which she finished in 1:54.44, is impressed with how Ungaretti has followed up her fantastic freshman season.
“She’s doing great,” Blankemeier said. “Her mindset is so positive, always with a smile on her face and enjoying practice.”
Blankemeier, who will swim at Yale next year, and Ungaretti have had loads of fun this fall training together and pushing each other in the 100. Both are threats to win a state title in that race, as Ungaretti swam the fourth-fastest sectional time and Blankemeier the sixth-best. Lake Forest senior Madeline Smith is the top seed with a 51.06 sectional time.
“Obviously, the goal is always to come out on top, but I can only control so much,” Blankemeier said. “The main thing this year is to have fun and enjoy racing.
“It will be my last time competing against all of these girls I’ve raced against since I was little, so I want to enjoy it.”
Perhaps learning from Blankemeier, Ungaretti is taking a similar approach to what is a stressful atmosphere at state.
“I just want to focus on going as fast as I can,” Ungaretti said. “If that happens to put me in first, that’s great. But if it gets me fourth or fifth, that’s fine too.”
Whatever happens, Ungaretti will be better prepared this time to face a two-day process of digging deep for every ounce of effort.
“I can definitely expect the level of nervousness and handle the pressure now,” Ungaretti said. “I can handle more than just one day of fast racing. With the state meet, there’s nothing like it and until you experience it, you don’t know.”
In that respect, the Huskies have an advantage in that all of their individual swimmers have prior state experience. That includes junior Alexandra Gill, the sectional champion in the 100 breaststroke (1:05.22) and junior Samantha Neilson, who advanced after taking second in the 100 backstroke in 58.60.
Blankemeier, Neilson, Gill and Ungaretti also comprise OPRF’s 200 medley and 200 free relays which will attempt to medal for the third consecutive year. They won the 200 free in 1:36.58 and were second in the 200 medley in 1:45.74.
The area also will be well-represented in diving. OPRF sophomore Sophie Lever won the sectional title with 413.50 points, while Fenwick senior Marianna Kania and OPRF freshman Yasmin Ruff earned at-large berths by scoring 382.75 and 382.45, respectively.