By Dominic Scianna

Whitney Young senior Isabella Chow became the first CPS girls swimmer in history to win a state championship on Saturday, November 16 in Westmont, IL at the IHSA state championships.

Chow’s historic accomplishment came about after winning the 50 yard freestyle event with a time of 22.53, and there was extra motivation for her to get to the medal stand after a disappointing finish a year ago.

“I got disqualified in the preliminary rounds in the 50 freestyle last year (for a flinch at the start) and that was really bad, so I’ve been wanting this for a whole year. I felt this was my chance to come back and get a state title and I did,” said Chow with a smile, as she completed her last high school event before swimming collegiately next season in the BIG TEN at Northwestern University.

Whitney Young head swimming coach Gerald Winston had specific goals in mind for his Lady Dolphins squad this year. The first was a chance to win an individual state championship event, and the latter was to finish in the state’s Top 10 among point leaders.

Both became a reality at this year’s finals with Chow’s state title winning performance, and Whitney Young finishing ninth with a total of 79 points.

“We said at the beginning of the season that a Top 10 state finish was our goal,” said Winston. “We’re right where we should be and that’s a great accomplishment for our team.”

Lane Tech, the only other CPS school to qualify for the state meet, also had a respectable showing as sophomore Layla Miglietta made history with a school best 5th place finish in girls swimming in the 500 yard freestyle with a time of 4:56.62.

“It was a lot of hard work and mental preparation and I’m really happy that I placed in the Top 5,” said Miglietta.

Lane head coach Brendan Weibel also admitted that CPS swimming is making its mark at the state level.

“It is very exciting to see our Chicago area public schools performing well at this (state) meet for the first time on the girls side in a long time,” said Weibel. “It’s a testament to all the hard work that is put in (by all the schools) throughout the course of a competitive season.”

Other performances of note from the IHSA girls state finals included:

• Whitney Young Girls finished 4th in the 200 yard medley relay.
• Whitney Young’s Briana Mingmuang finished 7th in the 100 yard backstroke.
• Chow finished 7th in the 100 yard freestyle.
• Lane Tech’s Taryn Hickey finished in the Top 15 in the 100 yard freestyle,
• Lane Tech’s Girls finished in the Top 15 in the 200 yard freestyle relay.
• Whitney Young’s Eliana King and Brooke Whitt finished in the Top 16 in the 100 yard breaststroke.
• Lane Tech finished 16th in overall team points with 34.
• This is the most medalists in CPL Girls Swimming & Diving history (11)
  – Whitney Young = 6 (4 A-final finishes and 2 B-finals finishes)
  – Lane Tech = 5 (1 A-final, 4 B-finals finishes)

Photos by Jim Vincent/OSA