After finishing one spot short of the consolation finals in three events at last year’s IHSA Girls Swimming and Diving State Championships, Dundee-Crown co-op coach Rebecca Olson and the team’s returning athletes are motivated to cap off the 2025 season with multiple podium finishes.

Dundee-Crown co-op, which combines with Hampshire and Jacobs, lead the area with seven entries at this year’s state meet.

Leading the way are juniors Rachel Johnson and Elie Niemi, who will each compete in four events. Senior Kaitlyn Tomaszewski, along with juniors Tessa Iverson, Olivia Burczynski and freshman Anastasia Komarova, also are competing this weekend at the FMC Natatorium in Westmont.

The preliminaries start at 3:30 p.m. Friday, with the top 16 in each event advancing to Saturday’s finals.

“I think we’re all looking forward to the experience and the team bonding,” Johnson said. “I think it’ll be a great weekend. We’re all really excited and we can’t wait to see what it brings. I definitely want to swim well, and I had a great sectional. My team was a big part of that and we’ve all worked really hard this season. We’ve had a lot of fun and I think it’s paying off.”

Experience should favor the Chargers at this weekend’s competition.

Niemi, Johnson and Tomaszewski are swimming at state for the third time, while Iverson will race at state for the second time.

Prior to the state meet, D-C co-op took second at the Barrington Sectional, where the Chargers won the 200-yard medley relay (Johnson, Tomaszewski, Niemi and Komarova) and finished second in the 400 freestyle relay (Iverson, Burczynski, Niemi and Johnson).

“We had really great energy going into Saturday,” said Olson, whose team won its second straight Fox Valley Conference Invite title this year. “They showed tenacity and they believed in themselves. We did a lot of visualization to see and go beyond our potential. I think that helped the girls get excited. They swam really well at sectionals.

“We expected Rachel to do well and she was fabulous in making sure she was strong and steady. [Elie] has been chasing qualifying for two individual events and we were really excited for her.”

In addition to the relay events, Johnson will compete in the 100 backstroke and 200 IM after winning both titles at the sectional. Niemi will represent D-C co-op in the 100 free and the 100 backstroke, while newcomer Komarova qualified in the 50 free after winning the sectional title.

Channelling the nervous energy and maintaining clear focus will be keys to success at state.

“State is our end-all-be-all goal, but it’s just another swim meet for us,” Olson said. “The nerves we have at a dual meet, at an invite, at a conference meet or at sectionals are all the same, and we can use those nerves to get excited and get ourselves pumped to swim fast. Our girls who have that experience have done a great job of gathering that energy, calming their nerves and helping our newcomers get in a good head space to compete.”

At last year’s state meet, Johnson placed 17th in the 200 free, while D-C, aided by Tomaszewski, Johnson and Niemi, finished 17th in both the 200 medley relay and the 400 free relay. Maggie Nowak, who graduated from the roster, took 10th in the 100 butterfly for the team’s best finish.

“A lot of the things we’re working on are making sure that, depending on who the swimmer is and what their walls look like off the start ... making sure those are clean,” Olson said. “Not having the nerves on the block and not having issues with flinching at the start.

“As long as the girls have strong, steady starts, we’re going to have a great race and we’ll go from there.”

Crystal Lake South co-op senior Bella Fontana, Burlington Central freshman Elenor Hultgren and Huntley sophomore Olivia Rohde also will represent the area at this weekend’s state swim meet.

Fontana, last year’s Northwest Herald Girls Swimmer of the Year, advanced with a fifth-place time in the 200 free at the Barrington Sectional. She is swimming at state for the fourth consecutive year and has four state medals throughout her high school career.

Rohde finished first in the 100 breaststroke, and Hultgren qualified in two events, the 100 free and the 50 free, at the St. Charles North Sectional.