Ujiiye, Barrington stay busy at state meet
Barrington senior Kyle Ujiiye might be a little bit tired, but he certainly isn’t bored.
He’ll be facing a very busy day of competition in Saturday boys swimming and diving state meet finals after advancing to the championship heat of the 100-yard butterfly and taking legs of all three Barrington relays, which will compete in the consolation heats as the finals session begins at 1 p.m at New Trier High School.
“It looks like I’ll have another full meet program,” he said, “and I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Ujiiye has the fifth-fastest qualifying time in the fly, 49.79.
“I think I maybe was a little too nervous, because my first half was a little bit slow,” he said. “I’m still pretty pleased with it because it’s a personal best, but I think I might have a better one in me.”
Joining Ujiiye with an individual scoring opportunity senior co-captain Jack Strauss.
He had the ninth-best time in the 100 freestyle (46.38).
“I thought Jack had a great day,” said Barrington coach John Valentine. “His 100 was terrific, and even though he did qualify in the 200 (finishing 16th in 1:41.97), that was a lifetime best by quite a bit.”
The dramatic points for the Broncos came in the relays.
The 200 free quartet of Sam Miseyka, Sebastian Piekarski, Ujiiye and Strauss finished eighth, in 1:26.19. It was a much closer call on the other two relays, both of which finished 12th.
When the scoreboard indiciated Barrington had advanced, it set off quite a celebration at Barrington’s team headquarters both times.
The Broncos’ medley relay is Brandon Baranowski, Miseyka, Ujiiye and Piekarski. In the 400 free, it’ll be Ujiiye, Piekarski, Chris Vega and Strauss.
“And the nice thing is, we see a couple of area where we can improve on all of those relays,” Valentine said. “We’re hopeful we can get a bit better in all of them.”
Conant senior Jonathon Burke dropped more than three seconds from his sectional time to deliver the fifth-fastest prelim time in the 500 freestyle (4:32.30) but was a near-miss in advancing in the 200 free (14th, 1:41.93).
Fremd senior Andrew King gets two more chances to compete — in the 50 free, where he’s 10th with a 21.52, and in the 100 free, where he’s 12th at 46.66.
One key for King, according to assistant coach Andrew Kittrell, has simply been growth and adding muscle bulk and definition.
The other key, according to head coach Kristen Newby, has more to do with patiently approaching the sport.
“I think at the end of last year, making state was really exciting for him,” said Newby. “Andrew started planning right then and he did it the right way.
“He’s very self-motivated, and that helps. He didn’t try to get where he is now all in one huge jump. He set small, attainable goals and knocked them off, one at a time.”
Nick Jessee also earned a pair of Saturday swims. The Hoffman Estates senior is 11th in both the 200 free (1:41.13) and the 100 free (46.56).
“We might have a little bit too much nerves before the 200,” said Hoffman Estates coach Joey Arce. “We’ll work on that see what happens (Saturday).”
As always, there were some good performances by area swimmers that weren’t quite fast enough to merit consolation or championship efforts Saturday, including:
타 Maine West senior Brian Wasicak placed 15th in the 100 breast in 58.73.
타 Conant junior Alex Shozda was 16th in the 100 free (46.89) and 15th in the 100 back (51.77); his classmate Martin Pozniak was 24th in the 200 IM (1:57.70) and 20th in the 100 fly (51.77).
타 Fremd senior Dennis Kostidis placed 20th in the 200 free (1:43.50) and 38th in the 100 fly (53.34).
타 Buffalo Grove senior Matt Schulstad was 23rd in the 100 fly (52.13).
For any fan of high school swimming, it was a special day as four individual state records fell.
Stanford-bound Mundelein senior Connor Black dazzled with his performances, smashing the 50 free state record formerly held by 2012 Olympian Matt Grevers; Black finished in 19.80.
In the 100 fly, Black finished in 47.20, taking almost a full second off the existing mark and coming within an eyelash of the national record of 47.08.
New Trier senior Reed Malone lowered the 200 free state record previously held by Neuqua Valley’s Kevin Overholt to 1:35.60, and Loyola senior Andrew Jovanovic erased another Grevers record, lowering the 100 backstroke mark to 48.21.
The meet resumes with consolation heats and championship finals at 1 p.m. Saturday.