Hononegah sets the table for postseason by dominating at NIC-10 championships
Led by Avery Miles, who won all four of her events, and Lydia Nordgren, who won three, Hononegah set the table for a strong IHSA postseason showing as it steamrolled its way to the NIC-10 girls swim and dive championship on Saturday.
"We really want to make a big splash at state, and it all starts here," Hononegah head coach Brian McGuire said. "Avery really swam well, and she's ready... We're all ready for what's about to come down."
And that would be the IHSA girls swim and dive postseason. All of the NIC-10 teams will be joined by Byron, Sterling, Morrison and Rockford Christian's Brooke Corrigan at the Jefferson Sectional on Nov. 4. Hononegah won its first sectional title in program history last year.
On Saturday, Hononegah scored 252 points to easily outdistance last year's NIC-10 champs, Guilford, which scored 211. Freeport took third with 190, and Auburn placed fourth with 186. Jefferson did not field a team this year.
Miles placed fifth in the 200- and 500-yard freestyle races, and she helped Hononegah to victory in both of the freestyle relay showdowns. Nordgren won the 100 butterfly and was a part of both relay victories, and she also took third in the 50 free.
Three other swimmers won one event and placed second in another: Harlem's Zoe Shields, who won the 50-free sprint; Guilford's Hannah King, who won the 100 backstroke race; and Boylan's Ruby Esparza, who placed first in the 100 breaststroke. Hononegah's Amelia Bronnimann easily won the diving competition.
None of the scores or times that were posted on Saturday were pool or meet records, and none were below the state-qualifying standards.
The area swim and dive teams will now have nearly two weeks to prepare for the IHSA postseason. At sectionals, the winner of every event, and any swimmer that eclipses the minimum qualifying standards, advances to state. In diving, all the sectional champs advance, as well as any diver who did not finish in first at sectionals but who's score is in the top 32 in the state.
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"It really starts to get fun from here on out," McGuire said of the postseason. "We're excited to see what our girls can do."
Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and follow him on Twitter at @JayTaft. Sign up for the Rockford High School newsletter at rrstar.com. Jay has covered a wide variety of sports, from the Chicago Bears to youth sports, since the turn of the century at the Register Star, and for over 30 years all together.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Hononegah cruises to NIC-10 title, now sets sights on sectionals, state
