Lane edges out Young to bring home girls swimming city title

By Noah Poser

After winning the diving event Friday, Lane Tech capped the swimming portion of the city championship meet on Saturday, Oct. 25 with a victory in the 400-yard freestyle relay to clinch the 2025 Girls Swimming and Diving Chicago Public League Championship.

Lane edged out Young by just five points, 312-307, in the Dolphins’ home pool, but the true margin was even slimmer.

The meet was decided by just 0.16 seconds, a fraction over one-tenth of a second, as that was the difference between Lane and Young in Saturday’s opening event: the 200-yard freestyle relay.

Young, last year’s winner, was defeated by Lane’s quartet of Rheya Ciesla, Olivia DeLory, Gabby McCracken and Layla Miglietta. Miglietta’s hand touched the wall just ahead of Young’s Joy Cheng.

The nail-biting finish set the tone for the rest of the meet.

“This whole week, we heard the back and forth of ‘Oh, who’s going to win? Us or Whitney Young.’” McCracken said. “Winning the first relay was really important because relays are a lot of points. It turned out to be really close and really exciting. We didn’t know if we could do it because everyone they have – Briana (Mingmuang), Jaslyn (Wu), Joy (Cheng) – is so fast.

“I knew my teammates were relying on me to catch up for the fly. Briana got that huge lead on the backstroke, so I had to lock in and be there for my team. I was really happy we got the win, because it lifted everyone’s morale and spirits to start the meet.”

Lane won five events overall: diving, the 200-yard freestyle relay, the 100-yard butterfly (won by McCracken), the 100-yard freestyle and the 400-yard freestyle relay. Young won seven events, but Lane made up the difference with one more silver and five more bronze medals, and by flipping the result in the opening relay.

The effort left first-year head coach Julie Levey nearly speechless, though that may have had more to do with her celebratory dive (or push) into the pool.

“This just confirms that we’ve had a great season so far and that we’re right where we should be,” Levey said. “It means I was put in this position for a reason and that I got hired for a reason, and I’m so very grateful and proud of every one of those girls.”

Other winners for Lane included sophomore Rory McCann in the 100-yard freestyle and Claire Lokken in diving. DeLory and Miglietta were also part of the winning 400-yard freestyle relay team.

Despite falling short of a third straight city title, Young had several standout performances, as sophomores Cheng and Mingmuang each won multiple individual events. Cheng won the 200 and 500-yard freestyle and Mingmuaung placed first in the 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard individual medley. Both were also part of the 200-yard freestyle relay winning team.

They share another distinction as well.

Both set Chicago Public League records – Cheng in the 500-yard freestyle and Mingmuang in the 100-yard backstroke.

“I don’t know what to say,” Cheng said after breaking the record. “That was really big. It was really cool. Last year it wasn’t even close. I lost by a lot, and I just wanted one really good, really close race that I could win against her.”

And it was a really good, really close race, as she defeated Miglietta, the defending champion, by less than half a second.

Mingmuang’s record came in dominant fashion, breaking a CPL mark that had stood for 12 years. The previous record holder, Lane’s Meghan Lavelle, went on to set the University of Iowa school record in the same event.

“It feels really good,” Mingmuan said. “I was not expecting to hit 55, so I was really happy about that. I wasn’t even expecting to get a personal best time here, so I’m really excited.”

On breaking the long-standing record of such an accomplished collegiate swimmer:

“That’s pretty cool,” she said. “I’m excited for the future and what’s to come. I still have a lot of people that are faster than me though, so I’ll keep my eye on them and try to keep up.”

While Young’s swimmers shined individually, only one team could take home the title, and on this day, it was Lane. The win leaves the Champions in a strong position heading into sectionals.

But first, they celebrated.

“We’re going to Chinatown after this,” McCann said during the meet. “It would be really nice to celebrate with all the parents and all the swimmers and coaches. With it being Coach Julie’s first year here, it would be her first city title, so I’m excited to try and secure the win so we can all celebrate.”

Thanks to McCann and her teammates, they were able to do just that.

Results from 2025 Girls Swimming City Championship Meet

Diving: Claire Lokken (Lane) – 368.24 pts

200-yard medley relay: Lane (Rheya Ciesla, Olivia DeLory, Gabby McCracken, Layla Miglietta) – 1:41.71

200-yard freestyle: Joy Cheng (Young) – 1:53.62

200-yard IM: Briana Mingmuang (Young) – 2:08.46

50-yard freestyle: Sophie Chin (Young) – 25.31

100-yard butterfly: McCracken – 57.13

100-yard freestyle: Rory McCann (Lane) – 54.11

500-yard freestyle: Cheng – 4:54.81***

200-yard freestyle relay: Young (Jaslyn Wu, Mingmuang, Chin, Cheng) – 1:38.19

100-yard backstroke: Mingmuang – 55.21***