By TR HARLAN

It’s hard to call it an upset when you’ve won anything nine times in a row, but it was.

The Chesterton girls swim team picked up its ninth consecutive Duneland Athletic Conference title with a stunning victory over No. 6 Crown Point on Saturday at LaPorte.

“I told them at the end that this is what happens when you believe,” Chesterton coach Kevin Kinel said. “It’s just a great feeling and a super meet. This one is extra special.

“I’m so proud of these kids.”

Crown Point edged the Trojans in the meet’s first event with a victory in the 200 Medley Relay by .15 seconds.

“We felt like the Medley Relay was going to be huge,” Kinel said. “We thought if we could steal one there, that would be big. We came up just short.”

A 1-2 finish in the 200 Free for the Bulldogs edged the 3-4 for finish of Chesterton.

“In the 200 Free, they catch us from behind,” Kinel said. “Everything was touch, touch, touch. We were just hoping to catch some luck and then the second half of the meet, we came on like gangbusters.”

Meaghan McLaughlin began to turn the tide with her first victory, a five-second win in the 200 IM.

“I knew going in I would probably win the IM,” McLaughlin said. “I was pretty excited to see how fast I would go.”

The Trojans followed that with a second and fourth place finish in the 50 Free for Mallory Przybylinski and Taylor Lipniskis.

“We have a few kids that thrive on this type of atmosphere and experience,” Kinel said. “Meaghan is one, Brittany (Fozkos), Milana (Socha), Mallory and Taylor. They just always get better.”

After a fifth place finish in diving by Kari Ricard, the Trojans trailed CP 206-170.

“Kari Ricard really hung in there today with diving,” Kinel said. “We had to have someone in the top five or six to keep us close and she really did a wonderful job.”

McLaughlin came out of the break with a win in the 100 Fly, her second individual title of the meet.

“The Fly was big,” Kinel said. “With Elizabeth Eberhart and Mallory backing up Meaghan, that was huge.”

When Fozkos won the 100 Free, with Brandi Nay and Lipniskis finishing 4-5, the Trojans edged ahead 260-259 for the first time.

“The 100 Free was going to be big for us too,” Kinel said. “That was the big turning point. That’s what gave us our first lead.”

Then came the sign the Trojans had been waiting for.

Sophomore Milana Socha upset top-seeded Ashley Lionberger in the 500 Free to set off a flood of emotion on the Trojan’s side and shock the Bulldogs.

“Milana was coming on to Ashley late In the 200 Free and we thought if she could keep it close, she’d have a chance. That was all her and all guts. That may have been the momentum builder that pushed us over the top.”

McLaughlin certainly thought so.

“After Milana won the 500, there were girls crying,” McLaughlin said. “We knew that was it. We could win the meet and it all came out.”

Socha stayed right with the top seed, but fell behind about 1¦2 a body length with 50 yards to go. The sophomore took the lead with about 15 yards to go and raced to the wall.

“I’m just so happy,” Socha said. “I don’t know if I can put it into words. I certainly wasn’t expected to win. I can’t truthfully say I thought I was going to. The team got me so excited and ready to swim before the race.”

A fourth place finish for Jenn Melton out of the second heat and a seventh place performance by Jessie Campbell in the 500 pushed the Chesterton lead to 307-291.

“We had all the momentum at that point,” Kinel said. “Our depth really came through today. A couple years ago, the conference went from six-lane pools to eight lanes. We started scoring 16 places and that may have helped us today.

“Maybe, we were just a little bit deeper.”

The Trojans followed that with a victory in the 200 Free Relay as Przybylinski, Shauna Foor, Socha and Lipniskis bested the Bulldogs by nearly four seconds.

“We rode the wave of what was going on at that point,” Socha said. “Everybody just kept swimming best times.”

The Trojans’ lead grew to 390-363 after Fozkos’ second place finish in the 100 Back. Lauren Foor finished fourth and Jenn Melton was eighth.

“Lauren Foor dropped six seconds in the IM and then another three in the 200 Free,” Kinel said. “She was huge for us today.”

The 100 Breaststroke was the Bulldogs’ big chance to get back in the meet, but the Trojans responded. Shauna Foor finished fourth, while Paige Wright was eighth and Michelle Buckmaster was 11th.

“All year our breaststroke has been a weak event for us and they really stepped up today,” Kinel said. “We had a lot of kids that haven’t been in this before and everyone stepped up in a big, big way.”

The 16-point lead heading into the 400 Free Relay was almost insurmountable, but Chesterton finished the meet in style – with a win.

The quartet of Fozkos, Socha, McLauglin and Shauna Foor won by nearly seven seconds over the highly regarded Bulldogs.

“Crown Point is a great team and well coached,” Kinel said. “We knew this was going to be a battle. Wanting to keep the streak alive was a big part of this today. Not only were the boys (team) and parents up in the stands, but we had a lot of former swimmers calling and sending letters this week. That really gave us some extra motivation.”

And sometimes, that’s all it takes.

Team Scores

1. Chesterton, 462; 2. Crown Point, 440; 3. Lake Central, 307; 4. Valparaiso, 279; 5. Portage, 201; 6. Merrillville, 163; 7. LaPorte, 143; 8. Michigan City, 108.

Individual Results

100 Medley Relay – 1. Crown Point, 1:52.62; 2. Chesterton (Brittany Fozkos, Meaghan McLaughlin, Mallory Przybylinski, Taylor Lipniskis), 1:52.77; 3. Portage, 1:55.30; 4. Valparaiso, 1:56.15; 5. Lake Central, 1:56.28.

200 Free – 1. Ashley Gose (CP), 1:56.51; 2. Ashley Lionberger (CP), 1:58.23; 3. Shauna Foor (C), 1:59.00; 4. Milana Socha (C), 1:59.53; 5. Jessica Anderson (P), 2:03.33;

6. Brandi Nay (C), 2:04.72.

200 IM – 1. Meaghan McLaughlin (C), 2:14.47; 2. Angela Roberts (CP), 2:19.17; 3. Aly Kuras (CP), 2:19.84; 4. Alissa Johnson (V), 2:20.41; 5. Anna Bona (LC), 2:21.20; 6. Jessie Campbell (C), 2:21.21; 9. Lauren Foor (C), 2:21.58

50 Free – 1. Cristina Gonzalez (P), 24.83; 2. Mallory Przybylinski (C), 24.94; 3. Molly Raspopovich (CP), 25.00; 4. Taylor Lipniskis (C), 25.25; 5. Basia Niziolek (V), 25.32; 13. Michelle Buckmaster (C), 26.33.

1-Meter Diving – 1. Maddie Miskulin (V), 445.00 (DAC RECORD); 2. Courtni Fryer (L), 359.60; 3. Megan Specyal (LC), 343.90; 4. Jamie Sergent (CP), 325.75; 5. Kari Ricard (C), 321.20.

100 Fly – 1. Meaghan McLaughlin (C), 1:00.05; 2. Caitlyn Lowry (CP), 1:02.22; 3. Anna Bona (LC), 1:02.92; 4. Elizabeth Eberhart (C), 1:02.93; 5. Bekah Smith (CP), 1:03.19; 11. Mallory Przybylinski (C), 1:06.58.

100 Free – 1. Brittany Fozkos (C), 53.71; 2. Cristina Gonzalez (P), 53.99; 3. Ashley Gose (CP), 54.25; 4. Brandi Nay (C), 55.98; 5. Taylor Lipniskis (C), 56.11.

500 Free – 1. Milana Socha (C), 5:16.82; 2. Ashley Lionberger (CP), 5:17.25; 3. Lelsey Payonk (LC), 5:31.52; 4. Jenn Melton (C), 5:33.22; 5. Rachel Lefkakis (LC), 5:34.46; 7. Jessie Campbell (C), 5:37.09.

200 Free Relay – 1. Chesterton (Mallory Przybylinski, Shauna Foor, Milana Socha, Taylor Lipniskis), 1:39.30; 2. Crown Point, 1:43.05; 3. Lake Central, 1:43.38; 4. Portage, 1:44.29; 5. Valparaiso, 1:46.25.

100 Back – 1. Molly Raspopovich (CP), 59.55; 2. Brittany Fozkos (C), 1:00.70; 3. Jessica Anderson (P), 1:01.32; 4. Lauren Foor (C), 1:02.89; 5. Katie Balko (M), 1:03.16; 8. Jenn Melton (C), 1:04.96.

100 Breast – 1. Aly Kuras (CP), 1:09.42; 2. Ellen Kozelka (V), 1:12.03; 3. Rachel Lefkakis (LC), 1:12.05; 4. Shauna Foor (C), 1:12.28; 5. Morgan Kleinaman (CP), 1:12.95; 8. Paige Wright (C), 1:15.19.

400 Free Relay – 1. Chesterton (Brittany Fozkos, Milana Socha, Meaghan McLaughlin, Shauna Foor), 3:38.56; 2. Crown Point, 3:45.12; 3. Merrillville, 3:48.88; 4. Lake Central, 3:53.12; 5. Valparaiso, 3:55.74.

Posted 1/14/2008