Double take: Dixon’s Lightner, Thompson making waves

Ciara Lightner and Rose Thompson take the same winding road from Dixon to Byron for swim practice everyday.

The two girls’ paths to this season’s state meet hasn’t been so similar.

Thompson’s journey has been nearly a straight shot, as times have dropped and she has emerged as the top sprinter in northwest Illinois.

Lightner’s trip has been forced into a few detours due to an ailing shoulder.

Yet both girls will be on deck for multiple events at Friday’s preliminaries at New Trier High School in Winnetka.

“I feel like I am ready and I really want to hold my seeding,” Thompson said. “I know that everyone is tapered for state, so everyone’s times will go down from the seeding. I am tapered as well.

“The goal is to make it back to finals.”

The top 12 times in each event make it to Saturday’s finals.

Thompson is sitting pretty after having a big day at last Saturday’s Byron Sectional.

Thompson won both the 50 and 100 freestyles. Her time of 52.25 seconds in the 100 broke a 30-year-old sectional record in the event.

“I didn’t expect her to swim like that at the sectional,” Byron coach Pat Egan said. “She had been complaining about being sore going into the day, but she came out really fast.

“Usually the progression for a swimmer with her talent is to go to state as a freshman, medal as a sophomore and try and then have the last two years to try and get as close to the top as possible.”

Thompson is right on line for that progression after qualifying for state last year. Her sectional times have advanced her a little farther up this time around.

She is seeded third in the 50 with her time of 23.78; Anna-Jonesboro’s Elizabeth Bell is the fastest at 23.48. Thompson is seeded fourth in the 100; Normal Community’s Lindsay Gendron brings in the top time of 50.73.

“I didn’t expect to be up in the top five,” Thompson said. “It puts more pressure on me, especially with an event like the 50 where anything can happen.”