Girls Swimming: Megan Sellers going for breaststroke title in final try

Updated: November 17, 2011 8:23PM

Metea Valley senior Megan Sellers has one more chance to fulfill her goal of winning the state championship in the 100 breaststroke.

Sellers will be one of the favorites in that event in the preliminary round of the state meet which gets under way today at New Trier in Winnetka.

She’s going into the race after swimming a 1:04.68 to win last week’s Neuqua Valley Sectional. It is the second fastest time going into the state meet.

As a freshman at Waubonsie Valley, Sellers finished fourth at state, and then after transferring to Metea Valley, she finished third in each of the past two years.

“I would have been happy with third place if I had just done my best time of 104.63,” said Sellers. “Last weekend’s time at sectional was really close, so I’m optimistic that I can do it with a week of tapering. I hope it’s good enough for the state title. I’m trying to stay focused.”

Naperville Central junior Julia Roller is going into the meet with the fourth fastest sectional time in the 100 breasstroke, 1:05.43

Sellers will also be representing Metea Valley as the breaststroker in the 200 medley relay along with teammates Lizzie Hollopeter, Erica Carvell and Lindsay Raczak.

“That race will be big for me because those girls are my closest friends,” said Sellers, who has committed to attend East Carolina in the fall. “It will be great having them there on the deck.”

Waubonsie Valley diver Taylor Eggenberger is another athlete who has her eye on winning the state title as a senior after finishing fourth last year, and she’s optimistic after winning the Neuqua Valley Sectional last week.

Eggenberger was third going into the finals last year and she’s used the disappointment with her state final performance as a motivator all year as she strives to go all the way this weekend.

Neuqua Valley junior Gia Dalesandro goes into the meet seeded fourth in the 100 butterfly and fifth in the 100 backstroke. Benet senior Cristina Favia is the fourth seed in the 500 freestyle.

Naperville Central will enter the prelims with the fourth fastest time in the 200 freestyle relay.

Benet is going to state this year on an up-note after winning last week’s Downers Grove North Sectional and qualifying all three relays, at least one swimmer in every event and diver Taylor Kramer.

It was the first time the Benet girls have ever won a sectional and it was the first time they’ve qualified someone in every event.

“Our main focus is going in there and swimming to the best of our ability,” said Redwings coach Sarah Maggio. “We have many seniors and everyone is determined to go out there and leave everything in the pool. Our girls are tough and they know how to race. We just have to build on the positive energy from sectionals.”

Tori Bertschy, one of those seniors, will be swimming in the 200 IM and the 100 fly, and she’ll also be a member of the 200 medley and 400 free relay teams.

“We’re a close-knit group and we’ve been together since our freshman year,” said Bertschy. “We’re not making any predictions. We’re confident we can drop times in our relays and individual events. We would also like to score some points.”

Last year’s state meet was a heartbreaker for the Redwings as Bertschy’s 100 butterfly and the team’s 400 freestyle relay team both finished 13th, just outside the money, and senior Cristina Favia in the 500 freestyle and the 200 medley relay team also came close with 14th-place finish finishes.

Other seniors who will swim for Benet this weekend are: Katelyn Katsafanas, who won the sectional last week in the 200 IM, Allison Pavlik, who will swim on all three relays and Kathleen Vogel, who will be on the 200 free relay.

According to Maggio, the 400 freestyle relay has the best chance of scoring among the Redwings’ three relay teams. The 400 team will consist of Favia, Bertschy, Pavlik and freshman Mary Claire Webb.

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