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Kane County Chronicle

Rosary’s Paige Kowal leads Kane County-area swimmers into Saturday’s IHSA state finals

Rosary’s Paige Kowal swims the 200-yard freestyle in the 200-yard freestyle during the girls state swimming preliminaries at the FMC Natatorium on Friday, Nov. 14, 2025 in Westmont.

Rosary’s Paige Kowal swims the 200-yard freestyle in the 200-yard freestyle during the girls state swimming preliminaries at the FMC Natatorium on Friday, Nov. 14, 2025 in Westmont. (Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald/Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald)

By Joshua Welge

Rosary sophomore Paige Kowal swam the fastest times in the 200 and 500-yard freestyles in Friday’s preliminaries to lead Kane County-area swimmers into Saturday’s IHSA state finals at the FMC Natatorium in Westmont.

Kowal swam the 200 freestyle in 1:47.14, then came back to win the 500 freestyle in 4:52.27, both faster than her seed times.

Also in Friday’s prelims, St. Charles North senior Kate Farell swam the fastest 200 individual medley time of 2:01.29, Rosary senior Ariyana Nieckula swam the fastest 100 butterfly time of 53.47, St. Charles North sophomore Thea Bike swam the fastest 100 backstroke time of 53.93 and St. Charles North’s Lucia Negro, Farrell, Hannah Maksimuk and Tessalina Stavropoulos swam the fastest 400 freestyle relay time of 3:24.64.

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Joshua Welge

Joshua Welge

I am the Sports Editor for Kendall County Newspapers, the Kane County Chronicle and Suburban Life Media, covering primarily sports in Kendall, Kane, DuPage and western Cook counties. I've been covering high school sports for 24 years. I also assist with our news coverage.