CL Central's Barton qualifies for final heat of 50 freestyle

Sandy Bressner - sbressner@shawmedia.com Crystal Lake Central's Marisa Barton competes in the 100-yard freestyle in the preliminaries of the IHSA Girls Swimming State Finals Friday at New Trier High School in Winnetka. (Sandy Bressner ())

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WINNETKA – Crystal Lake Central’s Marisa Barton stood in back of the blocks after the 50-yard freestyle and stared at the scoreboard, waiting for the final results to be posted at the preliminaries of the IHSA Girls Swimming State Finals on Friday.

What she saw brought a giggle, which broke into a big smile – she had finished fourth in 24.04 seconds and qualified for the finals today at New Trier.

Barton said she wasn’t keeping track of her competitors’ times because she didn’t want to psych herself out. She was confident she had made it, but just wanted to see it on the board.

“I wasn’t watching what the other girls were going before me,” Barton said. “I was just waiting for the moment of truth.”

The 24.04 seconds was by no means a great time for Barton, but the goal of the preliminary round was just to make the top six. Barton can finish no lower than sixth place today in the finals. Swimmers who finished seventh to 12th qualified for today’s consolation finals.

Tigers coach Lindsay Mernitz said Barton’s accomplishment was remarkable, especially because her team doesn’t have its own pool for practice.

“That was awesome,” Mernitz said. “It’s a pretty great accomplishment.”

Barton also swam the 100 freestyle and was a member of the Tigers’ 200 freestyle relay team with Nikayla Dahl, Jess Schwendau and Courtney Lefevre. The relay finished 29th in 1:39.97 and Barton was 27th in the 100 freestyle (53.29). Also in the 50 freestyle, Dahl finished 18th (24.50).

Mernitz said after making the finals in the 50, it was hard for Barton to come back and swim in the 100 two events later.

“Coming off of that high was hard,” Mernitz said. “I feel like it’s a different kind of adrenaline when you’re here.”

In the 100, Barton went out fast but could not maintain the pace in the second half of the race.

“I think I lost my form because I was trying to move (too) quickly,” Barton said. “That second [50 yards,] I just died.”

Barton will face stiff competition in the final today. Glenbrook South’s Olivia Smoliga set a state record in both the 50 (22.66) and 100 freestyle (48.88).

“We’ll go as hard as we can, but it might be a race for second,” Barton said.

Dundee-Crown’s Colleen Champa finished 16th in the individual medley (2:08.06) and 18th in the 100 breastroke (1:08.41).

Cary-Grove’s Lauren Curtis was 43rd in the 200 freestyle (1:57.42) and 50th in the 100 freestyle (55.36). Also for the Trojans, freshman Melissa Rose was 29th in the 100 breaststroke (1:08.12).