Harlem swimmers stun Boylan, take victories in 3 NIC-10 meets

By Bob Balgemann

REPORTER

Harlem’s girls swim team has continued moving forward early in the 2020 season, improving to 3-1 in the NIC-10 by taking a 110-92 victory over defending conference champion Boylan.

The Lady Titans won the gold metal competition on Sept. 15 , taking eight to five for the Lady Huskies, and they also led with seven bronze medals to five. But Harlem was especially strong in the silver medal races, winning 9 of 13, led by senior Taylor Hargraves and freshman Zoe Shields with three each.

Freshman Madilyn Rich scored a personal best 135.80 points to win the diving event, with teammate Olivia Hall, also a freshman, coming in second. Overall, eight Harlem swimmers had personal-best days; five came home after garnering season-best times in their events.

Senior Laura Schuman won gold in both the 100-yard breaststroke, with a time of 1:16.16, and in the 200-yard individual medley, clocked at 2:25.23. She also finished third in both the 100-yard IM, in 1:10.43, and in the 50-yard freestyle, at 28.30 seconds.

Hargraves won the 500-yard free (5:52.34), while taking second in the 50-yard backstroke (32.28 seconds), 50-yard butterfly (30.31 seconds) and 100-yard butterfly (1:07.18). Shields had the same outcomes in her four races, winning the 50-yard backstroke (35.45 seconds) and finishing second in the 100-yard freestyle (58.40 seconds), the 200-yard freestyle (2:09.91) and the 100-yard backstroke (1:07.18).

Senior Arianna Kerchmar went silver in the 100-yard breaststroke, in 1:22.33; she took bronze in the 200-yard IM, at 2:45.83.

Single point-producing medals were won by junior Steyenka Gibson with a silver in the 50-yard breaststroke, with a time of 38.68 seconds; junior Paige Carpenter, a bronze in the 100-yard freestyle, in 1:04.34; and senior Trinity Eissens, bronze in the 50-yard butterfly, at 32.99 seconds.

Also winning places against Boylan were junior Emma Rich, senior Haylee McGuire, junior Sheryl A. Wehde, junior Allison McDonald, sophomore Jaime Wedding and freshmen Karalynn Prouty and Maya Johnson.

Two victories

A strong showing in the silver medal races on Sept. 8 also proved to be the difference for Harlem, when it defeated Rockford East, 144-49. On Sept. 10 there was a similar showing for the Lady Huskies as they defeated Rockford Christian, 108-64, in a non-conference meet.

Shields, Laura Schuman, Kerchmar and Hargraves combined to win 10 events against the Lady E-Rabs. At Rockford Christian, the Lady Eagles won 7 of 13 events. But Harlem was strong in the silver and bronze medal classes, taking 16 of the 21 events to emerge with that win.

Against the Lady E-Rabs, Shields won four events for the second time in three meets. She took the 100-yard freestyle in 58.23 seconds; the 50-year breaststroke in 35.36 seconds; 100-yard beaststroke in 1:20.23; and the 200-yard individual medley (IM) in 2:27.43. She improved on her 2020 times in both the 50 and 100-yard breaststroke competitions.

Schuman came home with three gold medals, winning the 50-yard freestyle in 28.73 seconds, a 4.4-percent improvement this year; the 50-yard butterfly in 32.27 seconds; and the 100-yard IM, in 1:12.38. She came in second in the 200-yard IM, clocked at 2:32.83.

Two gold medals went to Kerchmar for winning efforts in the 50-meter backstroke, timed at 36.06 seconds, and in the 100-yard freestyle, in 1:23.20. She took silver in the 100-yard backstroke, clocked at 1:19.18.

Hargraves picked up a gold in the 200-yard freestyle, with a time of 2:23 even, and was runner-up in the 50-meter breaststroke, in 41.46 seconds; the 100-yard breaststroke, in 1:26.92; and in the 100 IM, timed at 1:16.23.

McGuire was awarded four medals for taking second place in the 50-yard freestyle (31.15 seconds) and the 50-yard backstroke (36.26 seconds), and for a pair of thirds in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:36.08) and 100-yard IM (1:18.64).

Sophomore Julie Edwards broke into the almost all-senior medal winners’ circle by winning silver with a second-place effort in the 100-yard butterfly, timed at 1:31.57, and taking bronze with a third in the 100-yard backstroke, in 1:22.49. She also placed fourth in the 50-yard backstroke, in 40.34 seconds.

Emma Rich won silver for her runner-up finish in the 500-yard freestyle, with a time of 6:58.27, and a bronze medal for taking third in the 50-yard butterfly, in 35.85 seconds. Additionally, she was fourth in the 50-yard breaststroke, in 47.18 seconds.

New entries

Plenty of new names were in the lineup against Rockford Christian, led by gold-medal winning efforts from Carpenter, Madilyn Rich and Eissens.

Carpenter won both the 500-yard freestyle, in 7:02.26, and the 100-yard butterfly, in 1:31.68, while carding a second in the 50-yard butterfly, timed at 37.55 seconds.

Rich, one of 11 freshmen on the team, posted 121.70 points to win the diving competition while Eissens brought home two gold medals for winning the 200-yard freestyle (2:36.63) and 100-yard breaststroke (1:32.58) races. She also picked up a bronze for placing third in the 100 IM, timed at 1:19.93.

Senior Piper Richardson won gold in the 50-yard breaststroke, clocked at 39.70 seconds, to go with a silver for taking second in the 100-yard freestyle, timed at 1:13.02.

Gibson had a strong meet, winning three silver medals by finishing second in the 100-yard butterfly, in 1:31.79; the 100 IM in 1:19.36; and the 200 IM, in 2:56.71.

Another solid performance was turned in by Johnson, with silver medals for taking second in both the 200-yard freestyle (2:53.60) and 100-yard backstroke (1:29.82). She also was fourth in the 100 IM, at 1:29.98.

McDonald took silver for a second place in distance swimming, the 500-yard freestyle, with a time of 7:27.79, along with two bronze medals while taking third in both the 100-backstroke (1:35.65) and 200-yard IM (3:01.79).

Wehde won bronze twice when she took third in the 500-yard freestyle (7:56.33) and 100-yard backstroke (1:47.39). Also, she was fourth in the 200 IM, at 3:10.74.

Among the other medal winners for Harlem were freshman Jada Seerup, one silver; Hall, one bronze; and Wedding, one bronze. Also competing for the Lady Huskies against Rockford Christian were freshmen Ella Kinison, Madyson Jenkins, Julia Gyruk, Carlie Buetsch, Serenity Maynard and Prouty.