OPRF completes four-peat

Alanna Dassoff hopes that more Oak Park-River Forest swimmers will be able to join her for the state meet this season.

Dassoff, a sophomore, was the only Huskies swimmer to make last year’s state meet. She finished 39th in her only event, the 200-yard freestyle.

OPRF’s only other state qualifier, diver Claire Kissinger, was 46th in the state meet.

It’s early, but the Huskies opened their first major meet of the season with their fourth consecutive title at the Riverside-Brookfield Invitational Saturday.

OPRF (376.5 points) won the eight-team meet by 43 points over Lake Park. The Huskies crowned five event champions led by Dassoff’s three titles in the 100-yard freestyle (54.84), 400 medley relay (4:16.70) and 400 free relay (3:46.62).

The 400 medley relay also included Faith Lewis, Miranda Tranmer and Emma Connell while the 400 free relay used Connell, Maggie Lomasney and MaryClaire Stannard.

“We had a four-peat. That was good for us,” Dassoff said. “We had a lot of girls that swam their season best.”

The Huskies competed in only their third meet of the season and opened the year with a dual meet at R-B Sept. 6.

The Huskies’ next major meet is the Fenwick Invitational at 1 p.m. Saturday.

At R-B, Dassoff dropped time in her 100 free although there is a chance she could try to qualify for the state meet in the 100 backstroke. She will definitely try to make a return trip in the 200 free. She finished second (1:59.60) in that event behind Lake Park’s Taylor Johns (1:58.73) at R-B. Stannard was third (2:00.13).

“We had a successful weekend,” OPRF coach Clyde Lundgren said. “The girls were very focused and enthusiastic as they swam and dove their way to a total team victory. Everyone had seasonal bests and contributed mightily to the four-peat.”

Dassoff hopes to get at least one relay into the state meet.

“The 100 free for me was great. I am .9 off the state meet cut,” Dassoff said. “That was really big for me.”

The two meetings against Fenwick this week will feature several girls who are teammates on the Team Millenium club based out of Fenwick. Before Tuesday’s dual meet, a moment of silence will be held for former Fenwick coach David Perry, who died Sept. 11.

Two other OPRF titlists at R-B were Chloe Guhlstorf (26.40) in the 50 free and Tranmer (1:02.33) in the 100 fly. Cameron Brandt (1:03.23) was second in the 100 fly.

The 200 free relay of Connell, Lewis, Guhlstorf and Stannard (1:46.02) finished second behind Marian Catholic (1:44.54).

© 2013 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.