For a fleeting moment, Lori Lynn's heart sunk. She thought she had been disqualified from her qualifying heat in the 200-yard individual medley at the recent Illinois High School Association girls swimming and diving state tournament at New Trier High School in Winnetka.
"I was really upset," Lynn recalled. "It's my senior year and ... they (the judges) said I moved on the (starting) blocks. I don't move on the blocks. I don't get disqualified very often."
As it turns out, Lynn was right; someone else had moved. Lynn, rather than stepping to the sidelines, moved to the state finals. Swimming in the 200 IM finals, she finished 11th, not too bad considering she was the only swimmer from southern Illinois competing in an event that featured 11 Chicago-area swimmers.
"Swimming is definitely a lot bigger in the north," said Lynn, who is home-schooled, but represented Belleville East in the state meet. "It's kind of unusual to have (local swimmers) at the state meet. It's just like a normal swim meet. I don't think about where they're from."
Not only did Lynn reach the finals of the 200 IM, she made the cut in the 100 butterfly and wound up 10th.
"I was pretty happy with the result," said Lynn, a four-year state qualifier. "I was trying to make the top six. I was really close."
Had Lynn finished in the top six (the finals are two heats), she would have been competing for a state title. But her preliminary time of 56.18 seconds was .23 seconds off the sixth spot of 55.95 recorded by senior Jen Law of Naperville North.
"High school state is definitely nerve-racking," Lynn said. "The deck is filled with people and I was definitely nervous."
She said she was not only nervous because of the state meet crowd, but also from the near disqualification in the individual medley. She was able to catch her breath when she found out from her coach and mother, Kathy Lynn that she had made the medley finals.
"I told myself I can't get DQ'd, but I really wasn't worried about it," she said. "I was careful on the blocks."
Lynn, who has been swimming since she was 8 and currently competes with the Edwardsville Breakers Swim Team, was able to earn a scholarship to the University of Illinois where she will join her sister, Erica. She was one of seven athletes signed by Illini coach Sue Novitsky.
"Lori is a fantastic addition to our team and will be able to come in and have an immediate impact," Novitsky said on the Illini swimming and diving website. "Lori is a fierce competitor, strong student and has a terrific personality."
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