Jardeleza establishes herself against top swimmers

Updated: October 3, 2011 7:24PM

Maddie Jardeleza might be the least recognizable name of Loyola girls back in the lineup who swam at the State Meet last season.

The junior is doing a lot to change that.

Saturday at Evanston, Jardeleza won the 100-yard backstroke in 1:00.02 and swam a career-best 1:55.56 to finish second in the 200 freestyle to Lake Forest’s Rachel Stoehr.

Last season, Stoehr took second at State in the 500 and third in the 200.

“She had a couple of meets this season where her times weren’t there,” Loyola coach Mike Hengelmann said of Jardeleza, who swam on two relays that made the state finals last year. “It was nice to see her have a breakout meet.

“She just trains so hard and is establishing herself as a strong swimmer in the state. She’s also emerging as a leader on the team.”

Loyola beat out Lake Forest to earn the team title with a meet-record 5,327 points. The Scouts totaled 5,225 in the eight-team field. The scoring is based on time, not place.

“It was nice to swim well,” said Hengelmann, whose club competed for the first time since Sept. 22. “It was good to win the meet because there was so much good competition there.”

Jardeleza also swam on two of the team’s winning relays. She led off the 200 medley relay that won in 1:52.13, and she anchored the 400 free relay that touched the wall in 3:38.34.

Loyola’s 200 free relay also finished first in 1:39.81. Evan Swenson and Grace Tierney swam on both freestyle relays.

“It was nice to see some times from so many people,” said Hengelmann, who was able to enter four individuals per event. “A lot of girls got a lot of different swims in. The girls are beat up and tired, but it was nice to see strong times in spite of that.”

Claire Rushin also stood out on Saturday. The freshman finished third in both the 200 and 500 free. Rushin clocked a personal-record 5:08.93 in the 500 and 1:56.30 in the 200. Stoehr won the 500 in a meet-record 5:03.91.

“Claire’s definitely emerging as one of the top freshmen in the state,” Hengelmann said. “It was nice to see her go out and race.”

Swenson was a two-time winner for the Ramblers on Saturday, winning both the 50 free (24.13) and the 100 free (52.36). Mallory Remick won the 200 IM (2:09.07), and Michelle Garland was first in the 100 breaststroke (1:08.6).

Loyola was scheduled to swim against Fenwick on Tuesday before competing at Barrington’s invitational Saturday.

“We’re really looking forward to Saturday,” Hengelmann said. “This is a good part of the season for us.”

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