Boys swimming: Scouting Northwest

BarringtonIt's a good thing Barrington has a spacious pool with plenty of lanes. With a total of 56 swimmers and divers out for the team, the defending conference champs will put all that water to good use. Surely, they'll miss the top-end sprinting punch provided by graduated seniors standouts Sam Miseyka and Sebastian Piekarski, but coach John Valentine still has a roster loaded with young ability and enough experienced strength to be formidable. Senior Chase Lesniak's best event is the 200 IM; the water polo team's all-time leading scorer and the football team's record-setting place-kicker figures to help set the tone on a team which has only four seniors. Junior Colin Cross excels in the breaststroke, while distance ace Mitch Gavars and Colin O'Leary (fly, back) are sophomores who've already raced at the state meet as individuals and are accomplished club swimmers. Another front-line competitor figures to be sophomore Andrew Fish (freestyles), and there are enough other impressive moving parts throughout the roster to presume that Barrington will be tough to beat in the MSL. Michael Vickens is coaching the divers this year, and Michael Kinross leads a big frosh-soph group that surely will provide plenty of varsity help in the near future.

ConantWhile sharing pool time at Schaumburg as Conant's own pool continues to be renovated, coach Brian Drenth remains focused on the big picture. So too, he says, are his swimmers. "The guys have state times on their minds, and a bunch of them have put a ton of time in the weight room and pool, off-season, getting prepared for this season. They've come in with a great attitude and are excited to see where their hard work will take them." The Cougars will count on good numbers of upperclassmen, including seniors William Chen (breast/sprints), Nate Claussen (fly, free sprints), Kevin Courtney (fly, sprints), Jake Lawson (breaststroke, IM, sprints), Sebastian Peters (backstroke, sprints), Connor Schmitz (distance, IM) and Paul deLutio (free sprints). The junior class features Lucas DeMar (breast, free), Tyler Goehrke (IM, distance), Cristian Gonzalez (diving), Vlad Hirjoi (fly, IM, distance), Jackson Jahnke (diving), Braden LaMore (backstroke, free sprints), Kyle Nelli (backstroke, distance), Mihir Patel (distance), Kamil Sak (freestyle, IM), Tim Song (breaststroke, free sprints), and sophomore Cole Aykroid will contribute as a diver.

Elk GroveIt's shaping up as another exciting season for the Grenadiers. Senior Colin Williams leads the way after placing 11th in last year's state meet in the 100 fly; he'll be after a third straight state meet appearance this year and possibly a pair of point-scoring individual finishes. The good news from a team standpoint is that there are enough components back from last year's team that the Grens have plenty of collective achievement to pursue, too. Senior Chris Doruff and junior Adam Doruff along with senior Bobby Hlavin and junior Michael Banasik will join Williams on the relays to give the Grenadiers some dual-meet scoring strength at the top of the lineup. The Doruff brothers will contribute mostly in freestyle; Hlavin and Banasik will join that effort and are strong in the backstroke. Coach Keith Kura has been emphasizing the importance of using every day of training to ensure that the successes of the previous year extends into this one. "We need to take the same approach, come to practice every day ready to work hard and pay the price, knowing that December efforts will be rewarded in February."

FremdThe Vikings will feature seniors Austin Yurasek and Roshan Rajan, both of whom had legs on Fremd's state-qualifying 200 freestyle relay last year, but the overall profile of last year's third-place MSL finishers and MSL West runner-up will be decidedly younger. Coach Kristen Newby will emphasize the relays this year, as they remain the best way to get the maximum number of participants on deck at the state meet. Sophomore Arnas Maciunas will likely help in that regard, and two freshmen - swimmer Danny Konishi and diver Zach Mega - also figure to help a generally young team stay competitive. One potential obstacle facing Fremd is the impending renovation of the pool, which is scheduled to start in early February. "This is not something that is going to get in the way of what we are doing," said Newby, "but is something the kids are embracing."

HerseyIt's an exciting outlook for the Huskies, who return several key contributors from last year's team plus a new addition who will immediately make a big difference at the varsity level. Coach Dick Mortensen will count on strong diving from seniors Riley Busche and Tucker Fenwick under the guidance of Tom Schwab. Seniors Paul Kim, Dave Kuntz, Jake Hall and Santi Guerrero along with junior Krystian Donov and sophomore Danny Garza are the key swimmers back. The new arrival is freshman Michael Petro, who walks in the door having already bettered the state cut in several events. Mortensen says Petro "is a top-end swimmer who has the potential to be an elite swimmer in the conference from Day 1." Though dual meet depth may be an issue, overall numbers won't. Hersey has 50 participants out for the team, including another frosh, Josh Irvine, who Mortensen says also will help immediately at the varsity level. Good diving and a very capable top four suggest the Huskies will be a solid conference and sectional team.

Hoffman EstatesFirst-year head coach Jenny Toler is pleased to have a hard-working group under her watch. The Hawks made great strides last year, and a core group of year-round competitors could make for an even better season ahead. The key seniors are Jacob Pasaye (IM/back), Joshua Pasaye (IM/back), Nick Hobar (distance), Bartosz Widelak (fly/sprints), Joe Smiley (sprints) and diver Parker Cannon. Toler includes sophomores Andy Hobar (distance) and Sean Hawksworth (diving, breaststroke) among the younger athletes who will make a difference. "We have a great group of seniors and juniors returning as leaders and role models for our younger guys," she said. "I am excited to be working with such a talented, hard-working group of athletes." The transition to head coach has been eased by Toler's familiarity with her assistants, Chris Fetterman and Dawn Engels. "I think we all complement each other's coaching styles and I couldn't ask for better partners," Toler said. "We have an opportunity to do something really special for Hoffman aquatics."

PalatineNew coach John Schauble isn't truly new to Palatine, having been head coach at the high school in 1989-90, and also with the Palatine Park District age group program. The veteran coach likes what he's seen so far, which is, essentially, the entire group from the previous year - but with more year-round training under its belt. Sophomore Alex Bartosik qualified for the state meet last year in the 200 IM and just missed in the breaststroke; he's also an excellent freestyler and can swim almost anything at a high level. Senior Jacob Baran had the team's top 100 free time last year; Schauble likes his sense of humor and says the team "will follow him anywhere." Junior Marcus Carter-Buckman is a 100-200 free standout who continues to drop time and has earned the nickname of "Hammer" from admiring teammates. Schauble calls junior Jordan Kalina the team's go-to butterflyer and adds, "he lives and breathes swimming and works very hard. One of the hardest workers on the team and busts his butt in every practice." Other key experienced swimmers include Oleksiy Korniychuk (IM-breaststroke), Adam Smith (distance) and versatile junior Alex Adame. A good-sized freshman class long on potential looks to be led by a varsity-ready standout, Jacob Klein (100, 200 free), and veteran coach Curt Bendell is working hard with returning diver Dylan Wilken. Put all that together, and Palatine looks like one of the more complete teams in the league. "The team goal is to move up in the conference and qualify as many swimmers as possible for state," Schauble said. "I would like to see Alex (Bartosik) final this year in the IM and at least make consolations in the breast. I'd also like to qualify at least two relays."

ProspectThe defending MSL East champs will be without senior standout Nathanael Ginnodo, a two-time state qualifier. But many of the key components from last year are back - and in many cases better than ever, thanks to additional conditioning and commitment. Seniors Sam Gabriel (back/IM/fly), Michael Morikado (fly, free), Apurva Belsare (back/fly), Nick Tuczak, Tyler Culliton and George Schober (sprints) and Kishan Trivedi (distance, fly) will lead the way. Diver Stephen Schmit is another proven top-levle performer. Juniors Ryan Lakner, Alex Morikado, Jack Gabriel and Isaac Ginnodo were big contributors even last year and will surely have a more prominent role. Likewise for a nice group of sophomores including Alex Jarosz (distance), Nick Partipilo (freestyles), Matt Inserra (fly, sprints) and Anthony Liva (diving). Coach Alfonso Lopez specifies Jacob Kosinski (breast, sprints) as a freshman who could make a difference at the varsity level. The Knights' over-riding goals - in addition to having fun, according to Lopez - are to defend their MSL East title, place well at invites and crack the top six as many times as possible at the conference meet.

Rolling MeadowsThe forecast sure is promising for the Mustangs. In addition to featuring all-stater Jake Barson (100 breaststroke) in his senior year, the vast majority of last year's promising group returns and is hungry for even more success. Among the familiar faces are seniors Tony Sarussi, Ryan Smith, Joe Ure and Alex Nikitin, juniors Kuba Debkowski, David Myers and Jon Windhorst and sophomores Filip Pancerz and Kamil Halaj. Coach Monika Chiappetta also welcomes a crop of freshmen - Josh Dellorto, Jack Keeley, Jake Pors, Andrew Tavares and Nate Pardini - who will immediately contribute to the varsity effort in a big way. "We want to make a second consecutive appearance at the state meet," Chiappetta said. "Jake Barson is looking to improve upon last year's results, and we have a team goal of having multiple swimmers participate in the meet, too." Chiappetta says she's counting on the team's recent successes to bring along the new additions quickly. "We have strong leadership on the team with a common goal, working hard together to make that happen," she said. "This will greatly benefit the freshmen. There are 14 weeks to achieve their goals - this is only possible with the leadership and a positive and focused daily attitude."

SchaumburgIn coach Paul Desruisseaux's first year with the team last winter, much progress was made. For him, year No. 2 is about extending that progress, and there's a nice group of promising swimmers for him to work with in that endeavor. Jack Pyde (sprints) and Christian Zielinski (mid-distance) are the top two seniors on a team that will get big contributions from every class. Junior Evan Whalen hopes to break five minutes in the 500 free before Christmas, and junior Tyler Gustafson had nice time drops at season's end last year to get to 51 in the 100 free. Versatile Odonys Fabian Sandoval (IM/backstroke) is another bright spot, along with sophomore Sam Thomas, who got down to 1:04 in the 100 breast last year. A wild card may be freshman Matt Kelland. "He is so versatile - I need to figure out where he will help us best. He is already one of the fastest people on the team based on the intrasquad meet we had." Desruisseaux also expects freshman Tyler Reynolds (IM/distance) to be a varsity contributor. One challenge may be diving, where MSL champ Mat Sigler and third-place finisher Adam Maslowski have graduated. But Desruisseaux says there's a new group of divers in place which will improve over time.

St. ViatorIt may take a while for coach Jamie Klotz, in his first year with the program, to complete taking inventory with his new team. But there's plenty to work with at St.Viator. Start with senior Keegan Finn, who excels in the 200 free and also has a solid butterfly. Junior Mitchell Warren is best in the 200 IM and 500 free, and sophomore Matt Stack's best events are the backstroke and breaststroke. And then there's freshman Michael Balcerak, who has already been under the state cut in the 50 and 100 freestyles in club season, and has been 1:46 in the 200 free. He's also strong in the fly and the back. "He's the kind of kid that works his tail of and listens," said Klotz. It's tough to project where the Lions' 23-man group will end up, and Klotz will take some time to decide which combination of swimmers will end up having the best chance of competing at state on a relay.

WheelingLast season was a big one for the Wildcats, who assembled strong relays and delivered an eye-opening performance at the conference meet to grab second place. They followed up with a strong sectional effort and had plenty of representation at the state meet. Coach Tod Schwager has an individual state qualifier and defending MSL champ in Jake Noel (200 IM, 100 back). His brother Kyle is also a top-notch competitor, and Nate Reiff and Justin Loquercio are also back after playing key roles in Wheeling's memorable run last season. Schwager counts Ricky Reeve and Daniel Levy among the competitors he thinks can have a varsity impact this season. It may be tough to replace graduated sprint standout Bryce Maczko, but Wheeling isn't backing away from the challenge. Schwager says the general goals are to improve individually and in the conference standings each year, and specifically to have a better finish against its MSL East foes.