New Trier swimmers rule own pool

New Trier’s girls swimming team is nearly impossible to beat in its own pool.

That is bad news for everyone else because that’s where the state meet will be held next month.

The Trevians’ performance on Saturday showed why they will be heavily favored to defend their state championship. New Trier blew away a talented field to win the 34th annual Trevian Relays with 173 points. Neuqua Valley was second in the 12-team competition with 131 points and Hinsdale Central edged Lake Forest 119-118 for third.

“I think we just get really excited for this meet because we want to defend our pool,” New Trier senior Samantha James said. “Obviously, (another state title) is there and we know we want to win but we don’t really talk about it very much.”

The Trevians let their swimming do the talking in this one. James, the reigning state champ in the 100-yard freestyle, broke the meet record in the 100 butterfly with a winning time of 56.67 and also captured the 50 free in 23.80.

She also anchored teammates Jessica Sutherland, Kara Lucenti and Elizabeth Good to a meet record in the 200 medley relay. Their time of 1:46.34 is the top time in the state this fall, as is the time (1:37.46) Good, Morgan Scott, Lauren Stone and James clocked in winning the 200 free relay, missing a decade-old record by .12.

“We like to defend our turf,” New Trier junior Stephanie Marchuk said. “Obviously our goal is to win state. We all have it in front of our heads but I don’t think we want to jinx it or anything.”

Marchuk captured the 200 free in 1:52.62 and the 500 free, in which she has the state’s top time, in 5:01.06. She also teamed with Campbell Costley, Scott and Good to break the meet record in the 400 free relay, but their time of 3:32.30 was second to the Fenwick quartet of Paulina Kaminski, Haley Wickham, Maureen Barron and Mimi Schneider, which established a new mark of 3:32.18.

“That was a real accomplishment,” Schneider said. “I think our team did great for this meet. We’ve had a lot of problems with our pool and our schedule has been really, really rough on us, so I think overall we just came out and competed really well here.”

The Friars, who were fifth with 113 points, have been unable to use their pool since Oct. 1, when it was closed by the state because of faulty drain covers. The pool is slated to re-open by the end of the week.

“We have been in seven different pools in the last two weeks so it’s been crazy, but we’re happy it’s almost over,” Schneider said.

Schneider won the 100 free in 51.42, beating the meet record of 51.74 set in 2001. But she was happiest with the showing of fellow sophomore Kaminski, who captured the 100 breaststroke in a school-record 1:05.96.

“She got our team record that stood for 10 years,” Schneider said. “We’re really proud of her.”

Neuqua Valley junior Gia Dalesandro was the other individual champion, taking the 200 individual medley in 2:09.80 and the 100 backstroke in 57.99.

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