Many area athletes will take a dive
Local divers among state meet's elite
When the two-day IHSA state swimming and diving meet starts today at New Trier High School in Winnetka, there will be a great deal of Naperville local interest in the preliminary diving competition which begins at 9 a.m.
Eight divers who qualified for state at Saturday's Neuqua Valley Sectional try to impress the judges and make it to Saturday's finals.
Colleen Webb -- 100 backstroke
Maddi Webb -- 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle
Katelyn Katsafanas -- 100 backstroke, 200 IM
Taylor Kramer -- diving
Cat Cortesio -- 100 butterfly
Tori Bertschy -- 100 butterfly
Cristina Favia -- 500 freestyle
200 medley relay
200 freestyle relay
400 freestyle relay
NAPERVILLE CENTRAL
Vanessa Hendrix -- 100 freestyle, 200 IM
Julia Roller -- 100 butterfly, 500 freestyle
Vanessa Lin -- 100 backstroke
Rosalie Fidanze -- 100 breaststroke
Annie Higdon -- 100 backstroke
Molly Schatz -- diving
200 medley relay
400 freestyle relay
NAPERVILLE NORTH Amy Novak -- 50 freestyle
Paige Bloodgood -- diving
Kaitlin Koburov -- diving
Jennifer Law -- 100 butterfly
Emma Williams -- 100 butterfly, 200 IM
Anna Williams -- 500 freestyle
Lauren Bogle -- 500 freestyle
Caroline Chang -- 100 breaststroke
200 medley relay
200 freestyle relay
400 freestyle relay
METEA VALLEY
Megan Sellers -- 100 breaststroke
NEUQUA VALLEY Lauren Pierce -- 200 freestyle
Megan Childs -- 50 freestyle
Amanda Childs -- 200 freestyle, 500 freestyle
Carly Schlupp -- 500 freestyle
Courtney Taylor -- 200 IM
Lauren Mikulecky -- diving
Brooke Bedford -- 100 butterfly
April Niccolai -- 100 butterfly, 100 backstroke
Riley Schroedter -- 100 freestyle
Hannah Soltys -- 100 breaststroke
200 medley relay
200 freestyle relay
400 freestyle relay
WAUBONSIE VALLEY
Andrea Baumgartner -- 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle
Hillary Ferguson -- 50 freestyle
Taylor Eggenberger -- diving
Gia Dalesandro -- 100 freestyle, 100 backstroke
Julia Carroll -- 100 backstroke
200 medley relay
200 freestyle relay
400 freestyle relay
The sectional diving champion was Waubonsie Valley sophomore Taylor Eggenberger, a returning state qualifier, who scored 452.90 points at the sectional ahead of her good friend and former teammate at Neuqua Valley, Lauren Mikulecky (425.65 points), who finished 12th at state last year.
Grace Miller of Rosary finished third with 401.80 points followed by Paige Bloodgood of Naperville North (398.55), Molly Schatz of Naperville Central (394.60), Jordan Anderson of Oswego East (393.90), Taylor Kramer of Benet (391.30) and Kaitlin Koburov of Naperville Central (361.70).
For Eggenberger, winning the sectional diving competition in which she came within five points of the pool record, was the most recent triumph in what has been a remarkable year.
She has won the diving in all of her invitational meets except the Neuqua Valley Invite, where she finished second to Mikulecky.
"Taylor dove phenomenally at sectionals," Waubonsie Valley diving coach Katie Williams said. "She really proved that the hard work she's done has paid off. She showed her true colors and she's proven that she's a great athlete on the top of her sport. She's in a great position as the fourth-ranked diver at state."
Mikulecky, who has battled back from a hand injury this season, will be seeded eighth and, according to Williams, the state championship is up for grabs among a number of qualifiers.
"You just have to take it one dive at a time," Williams said. "And you never know what other divers are going to bring, so you just have to concentrate on what you're doing."
Eggenberger said she's going into this year's state meet with a little different mindset than the one she had last year.
"Last year, I was excited but a little nervous," she said. "I'm planning on things being different this year. My coach and I are working on focusing. I need this to be the meet of my life and I'll be happy if I can make it in the top five."
The Neuqua Valley Sectional produced 101 qualifiers for state, by far the most in the state and probably the most ever by a sectional.
Three-time defending state champion and sectional winner Rosary led the way, qualifying a state-meet best 19 total entries.
Four other local schools will also be represented at state by as many as 10 entrants.
Neuqua Valley will have 15, Benet and Naperville North both have 12 and Naperville Central and Waubonsie Valley will send 10 each.
That's counting each relay team as one entrant. Naperville Central qualified two relay teams, while the other four Naperville-area schools qualified all three.
The new Metea Valley will be represented by sophomore Megan Sellers in the 100 breaststroke, the race in which she finished fourth in state as a Waubonsie Valley freshman last year.
The swimming competition today begins at 3:30 p.m. The meet finals start at 1 p.m. Saturday.
