On Saturday, Nov. 9, the Naperville North High School girls swim team competed in the IHSA Sectionals and qualified for state in three different events with four separate entries.
NNHS placed seventh overall with a final score of 110 points.
The Huskies started out strong by placing seventh in the 200 yard medley relay, qualifying for state with a time of 1:47.00. The relay team consisted of senior captain flyer Mallika Putakham, junior backstroker Abby Pobozny, sophomore breastroker Tasha Mantel and senior captain freestyler Chloe Chen. Later on in the meet, the Huskies placed sixth in the 200 yard free relay, which qualified for state with a time of 1:37.72. The 200 free relay swimmers were Pobozny, Mantel, senior captain Payton Schrier and Chen.
Prior to sectionals, Chen reflected on the grit she had to exercise throughout the season to perform well.
“I think it’s really important to put 100% effort into every single practice and make sure you’re on time and showing up to every practice in order to do your best,” Chen said.
In the 100 yard breaststroke, both Mantel and sophomore Jules Swatland placed in the top five and qualified for state. Mantel placed second in the event with a time of 1:03.54, and Swatland placed fourth with a time of 1:05.31. Mantel explained her desire to make state and how her mindset allowed her to achieve this goal.
“I’ve just been trying to be motivational because we’re so close yet so far from state and you just have to keep going and keep pushing so it will all work out in the end,” Mantel said.
Some notable time drops throughout the meet came from junior Sofia Oliveira and sophomore Erin Colburn. Oliveira dropped nearly two seconds in her 100 yard butterfly for a new time of 1:00.52, and she dropped almost five seconds in her 100 yard backstroke for a new time of 1:02.98. Colburn secured a time drop of 14.62 seconds in her 500 yard freestyle, ending with a time of 5:19.42, her lifetime best. Head Coach Andrew McWhirter reflected on what he hoped the girls would accomplish.
“Everybody should drop time. Lifetime best. And if that lifetime best is a state cut that’s great, but the goal is to be faster than you were the day before,” McWhirter said.
The swimmers that qualified for state will race at the preliminaries at the IHSA State meet on Nov. 15 at the FMC Natatorium in Westmont. The swimmers will have to place in the top 16 in the preliminaries to compete in the finals on Nov. 16.
