Rosary entered Saturday’s finals of the IHSA swimming championships in Evanston with high hopes and left with some history. The Beads captured the Aurora school’s first state championship with 163 points and a runaway victory.
Rosary set the pace in the opening medley relay as freshman Mackenzie Powers, sophomore Elisabeth Tavierne and seniors Brittany Doss and anchor Amy Schaefer combined for a blistering 1 minute 45.46 seconds, the third-fastest medley in Illinois history.
“Winning that was really amazing,” said Schaefer, who also swam on the victorious 400 free relay. “I knew we could do it. We had to race . . . the same thing we’ve done every meet. This team is so close. We just love each other to death. I think that was the difference from the past years.”
Olivia Scott led the Beads with a victory in the butterfly, a second in the individual medley and a spot on the 400- and fifth-place 200-free relays.
Loyola’s Betsy Webb now owns the second and third fastest state times in the 50 free with her 22.95 win. She also won the backstroke title.
“You’ve got to be ready for everything,” said the junior, who mirrored her preliminary finishes. “You’ve got to live off every moment–you just have to have fun with it.”
Naperville Central’s Amy Prestinario joined Webb in the double-win club with scores in the IM and 500 free.
“I knew coming in that both of the races would be really good races,” said Prestinario, a Redhawks junior who captured each event by .14 seconds. “What it comes down to is all the hard work we put in this season.”
New Trier’s Emily Dominski finished second in the 50 and 100 after winning both last year. Loyola diver and 2005 champion Elysse Rowland finished third behind winner Kerrin Seymour, a Stevenson freshman.
———-
dsurico@tribune.com
