Key West test as Barrington, Fremd sort things out

The Mid-Suburban West championship in boys swimming will be essentially decided today as Fremd hosts Barrington starting at 4:30 p.m.

Neither team has yet lost a Mid-Suburban League dual, and both are perfect within the West Division.

Barrington coach John Valentine has a team that lost very little from last year's divisional champion, so it makes sense to see the Broncos as a favorite entering the meet.

Barrington has senior leadership from state meet veteran Greg Alexander, a deep group of sprint freestylers and an impressive array of younger swimmers capable on making a real difference in a dual meet setting.

Fremd, though, enters the meet with high hopes. Seniors Dustin Anderson and Jeff Freund mentioned earlier this season that one of their team goals was to make it through the Mid-Suburban League slate without a loss. Their flexibility in individual events gives coach Kristen Newby some interesting lineup decisions to make.

In all likelihood, Barrington just has too much depth for Fremd to pull it off here. But it will be well worth price of admission to watch the area's top two teams decide things for themselves.

Uber swimmer: Defending MSL West champion Conant features two top-line breaststrokers in Brandon Grzegorek and Matt Nagorzanski.

Grzegorek has exceptional speed but tends to fade in the second half of his 100; Nagorzanski has less speed but excellent stroke mechanics and practically even-splits his 100.

All of which prompted Conant coach Brian Drenth to quip: “If I could somehow put them together in one swimmer, I'd have a breaststroker going 56 (in the 100).”

Looking ahead: Barring unforeseen complications, the East Division championship will come down to Jan. 27, when Hersey hosts Buffalo Grove at Olympic Pool in Arlington Heights. Both are undefeated so far.