Richards girls swimming season highlights

Richards High School asked coaches to share highlights, best moments, and achievements for their teams. Coach Ariel Palacios covers the historic season for the girls swimming team:

This season, our girls swim team won their first conference championship in 9 years. The girls were undeterred as the format of the meet was unlike anything they’ve ever competed at.

Each conference team swam in their own pool, at the same time, and results were tallied and posted in (almost) real-time. When the final results were posted, the girls’ excitement could be heard as far away as Shortstop’s Bar and Grill on 111th Street.

Kelly Gordon finished first in the 200 yard individual medley and the 100 yard butterfly, and second in the 500 yard freestyle. Kate Gillespie won the 50 yard freestyle, the 100 yard freestyle, and the 100 yard backstroke.

Also contributing to the conference championship were Maddie Lichter (2nd in the 200 yard freestyle and 4th in the 100 yard breaststroke), Sara Dobrzynski (6th in the 200 yard freestyle, 5th in the 100 yard breaststroke), Margaret Gillespie (6th in the 100 yard butterfly, 5th in the 200 yard individual medley, 9th in the 100 yard backstroke), and Jackie Ballesteros (8th in the 50 yard freestyle and 10th in the 100 yard freestyle).

This dedicated group competed at the Sandburg Sectional where they finished a very respectable 6th place in a tough Sectional.