Benet Denied at State Swimming Meet

Benet was the heartbreak team of the girls swimming state meet Friday night at Evanston.

The Redwings did not have anyone qualify for Saturday's final round, though they came close in several events, racking up two 13^th place finishes, two 14^th place showings and one 15^th place ranking. Only the top 12 finishers in each event advance to the second day—the top six make the championship heat and the next six qualify for the consolation final.

"It was disappointing because we didn't get anybody back, but we had some fast swims and best times so you can't really complain," Benet coach Sarah Maggio said. "It's just you come to the state meet and it's a big show. You have to come ready and give it everything you've got. Unfortunately it didn't work out in our favor.

 It wasn't for lack of trying on the part of the Redwings, who had just one senior—Maddi Webb—on the deck. Webb, whose older sisters Brigid and Colleen starred for Benet, finished her career by taking 19^th in both the 100-yard freestyle (:53.33) and 200-yard freestyle (1:54.80).

She also anchored two Benet relays that just missed qualifying. The 200-yard free relay of sophomore Taylor Lifka, juniors Cristina Favia and Allison Pavlik and Webb finished 16^th in 1:38.83, just .41 off the cut, and the team's last chance, the 400-yeard free relay, came up .39 shy after Pavlik, junior Tori Bertschy, Favia and Webb clocked 3:34.81 to take 13^th.

"She did amazing this year in giving us her all," Maggio said of Webb. "She's really been a team leader so she's going to be missed greatly."

"It's pretty rough but we had an awesome meet at sectionals," Webb said. "That was fun. We worked hard. For a team that doesn't have a pool [Benet trains at several venues, including Naperville North and the Oak Brook Park District], we did pretty well. So it was exciting and next year will be even better. The incoming freshmen will be extremely fast."

One of those freshmen will be Webb's youngest sister, Mary Claire, whom Maddi says is already nearly as fast as her. That has swimmers like Bertschy excited about the future.

"We did everything we could," Bertschy said. "We couldn't have asked for more. I'm going to train really hard and I think I can do better next year."

Bertschy was another of the hard-luck Redwings. She was 13^th in her best event, the 100 butterfly. Her time of 57.70 missed the cut by .12. She was also 21^st in the 200 individual medley (2:09.64) and also led off the 200 medley relay team that captured 14^th place in 1:50. 29, just .74 short of advancing. Lifka, junior Katelyn Katsafanas and Pavlik also swam on that relay.

Katsafanas was 28^th in the 200 IM (2:11.78), while Lifka took 35^th in the 100 fly (59.65) and Favia came in 14^th in the 500 free, hitting the wall in 5:02.94, only 1.45 off the cut.