WINNETKA – It’s been 20 years but McHenry County finally has another girls swimming state champion.

Prairie Ridge sophomore and Crystal Lake co-op swimmer Valerie Tarazi won the 100-yard breaststroke (1:02.55) in the state finals at the New Trier Natatorium on Saturday. She also placed second in the 200 individual medley (2:01.65).

Tarazi earned All American times in both events.

McHenry’s Brianne Fowles won state in the 200 and 500 freestyles in 1995 as the only other area swimmer to win a state championship.

In the breaststroke, Tarazi had a great start and cleared the water in the lead but was in a virtual tie with Metamora’s Noelle Peplowski, last year’s state champion, at the halfway point.

“I knew I had to get off and I knew I had to sprint the first 50 to do it,” Tarazi said.

She had the fastest second-half split to win and edged out Urbana U-High’s Ema Rajic by 13-hundredths of a second.

“I think her start was huge,” Crystal Lake co-op coach Stephanie Wozny said. “That was a close race and the start definitely helped.”

Tarazi wasn’t interested in analyzing any shortcomings she might have had in the race.  She was content to relish her accomplishment.

“I don’t really care how the race went. I won,” Tarazi said.

Tarazi was out-touched by Rosary’s Alexis Yager in the IM, 2:01.58 to 2:01.65. But even that did not put a damper on her day.

“I got second and I’m a sophomore. I’m really proud of that,” Tarazi said.

After two personal best times in the preliminary rounds on Friday, Tarazi added another personal milestone in the IM on Saturday.

“It felt good to go best times,” Tarazi said. “I don’t go best times very often.”

Wozny hopes Tarazi’s success has a positive impact on swimming throughout the area.

“I hope that we get a little more recognition,” Wozny said. “Swimming seems to get overlooked a lot.”

She brought several of her swimmers to state so they could see the state meet first hand.

“I wanted them to experience what the state meet was like,” Wozny said.

And hopefully give Tarazi some company next year.

“I want to bring a bigger team next year,” Wozny said. “Now that the girls have seen what our goal is, this will help us work harder so we can get here.”

Having to take a bus to an out-of-district high school to practice makes Tarazi’s achievements even more remarkable.

“For a team that doesn’t have a pool, we just got a state champion,” Wozny said.

Valerie Tarazi Prairie Ridge, so. (Crystal Lake co-op)

Two years of accomplishments

State

5. 200 Individual medley, 2:06.08, 2014

9. 100 Freestyle, 51.63, 2014

2. 200 Individual medley, 2:01.65, 2015

1. 100 Breaststroke, 1:02.55, 2015

Sectionals

Four individual event championships

FVC Meet

Four individual event championships

Two MVP awards

Crystal Lake co-op team title, 2015 Individual

Six team records (50 and 500 freestyles are the only events she doesn’t have the record in)