Lake Forest's Expectations Fall, Times Rise at State Girls' Swim Meet

A variety of forces came between girls’ swim team’s hopes of being one of the State’s top five teams and the reality of its 10th-place finish Saturday at New Trier High School in Winnetka. 

Though by winning titles in the 200-yard freestyle and 500 freestyle to provide 32 of the Scouts’ 39 team points, the other pieces of did not stitch together.

Grevers said she was pleased the Scouts finished 10th, one place better than their 2010 performance. However, earlier in the week she professed the opportunity to place among the top five and possibly as high as third.

“We’ll take it,” Grevers said of 10th place. "We’ll take the improvement.”

Competing with the Clock

It was a lack of improved times from the Nov. 12 Sectionals to Friday’s preliminary round at the State Meet that kept Lake Forest from elite status.

, a senior, came out of the Vernon Hills Sectional seeded second in the 200 individual medley with another senior, third. Both swam slower times in Friday’s preliminary round at the State Meet than in Sectional. Hlavin fell to the consolation round and Campbell failed to qualify for the second day’s events.

“I woke up this morning feeling sick,” Hlavin said after her Saturday race where she finished 12th. “I didn’t know it would be like this. There was too much adrenaline.”

Hlavin posted the state’s second best 200 IM time in Sectional competition of 2:06.87, but in Friday’s preliminary swim she was slightly slower (2:06.96) while the rest of the field bettered their times. Grevers thought the improved field made a major difference.

“There was too much strong competition,” Grevers said. “I was not unhappy with anyone’s time. We did not perform poorly. The field was much improved the second day (Saturday).”

State Pressures Unlike Others

Stoehr believes the State Meet is unlike any other, and the pressure it places on the athletes can cause performances to slip. She recalled her own saga of the State Finals, which began when she qualified as a freshman.

In her first year, Stoehr was not expected to make the finals and did not. The next year, she suffered the same fate as some of her teammates.

“I was seeded sixth and eighth and finished dead last,” she said of her sophomore performance. “There’s so much pressure and it can be overwhelming if you’re not used to it. You have to work really hard to be up for the challenge."

Stoehr learned how to handle the pressure as a junior, finishing second in the 500 freestyle and third in the 200 freestyle before becoming one of only two double champions as a senior.

In addition to Hlavin and Campbell, junior Anne McArdle swam to a 1:05.47 in the 100 breaststroke during the Sectional to earn a seventh seed. However, McArdle's 1:06.09 in Friday’s preliminaries kept her out of Saturday’s final round where team points are accumulated.

In the 100 backstroke, sophomore Caitlin Lanigan came into the State Meet seeded 10th based on her :58.12 clocking, but swam a :58:45 on Friday to keep her out of the finals.

The 400 freestyle relay team of Stoehr, Hlavin, Campbell and freshman Eleanor Meeks notched a 3:30.06 in the Sectional to earn a fourth seed, but wound up 12th in the State finals with a 3:34.08. Stoehr’s anchor leg closed nearly a third of a pool length, but was not enough to improve the finish. The same quartet also finished 10th in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:37.89 after finishing first at the Sectional in 1:37.85.