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Bartlett/Streamwood swims strong in Coleman's honor

The Mike Coleman Memorial Invitational isn't just another meet on the schedule for the Bartlett/Streamwood co-op boys swim team.

Sure, it was a home meet, but there's a lot more to it for the Sabrehawks. Its namesake was a former team MVP and record holder in the 200-yard medley relay and 200 free relay, who passed away in 2011.

That's why the past couple of weeks of training were dedicated solely to racing well against a slate of formidable competition.

That the Sabrehawks did, finishing fourth with 63 points, behind repeat champion Plainfield, which won eight of the 10 events and finished with 155 points.

"It's something special to us," said Matt Lee, who took second in the 100 breaststroke in 1:01.01, edged by Plainfield's Brandon Tran (59.57). "The whole two weeks we've been training over break, we really pushed it. We were looking forward to this meet; all the guys were talking about it. Guys were coming to 90 percent of practices. We wouldn't skip."

That fact wasn't lost on Sabrehawks assistant coach Steve McCall.

"We conveyed to the guys that (Coleman) dedicated his time to the pool and did a really excellent job inside the pool, which I think also translated to his life outside the pool," he said. "If we can come here, do the work that is necessary to swim, you're going to succeed in life. He did it, we can do it. Let's continue to be better people."

Lee teamed with Ryan Griffin, Mike McGrath and Brandon Paul to close out the meet with a flurry by finishing second in the 400 freestyle relay in 3:39.45, just behind Plainfield's foursome of Tyler Adkins, Ryan Netzel, Kyle Potts and Alex Netzel (3:28.30). Earlier, Griffin took fourth in the 50 freestyle (24.82).

Bartlett/Streamwood's Upstate Eight brethren West Chicago/Batavia gave Plainfield its stiffest challenge, finishing second with 110 points. The team was bolstered by a flurry of freshmen, including Garrett Clasen, who won the 200 individual medley in 1:58.23, a shade ahead of Plainfield's Tran (1:59.22).

"We have a very young team … most of our guys who are on our varsity are freshmen," said West Chicago/Batavia coach Nicole Cleveland. "They are competing hard. I'm very proud of them. We had some season-best times for a few of the guys. This is the best we've done at this meet since I've been coach. Moving up into second is awesome. I'm very happy."

Clasen and fellow freshmen Ryan Sego and Tyler Cook, along with junior Cooper Hawkins, pooled their resources to take second in the 200 medley relay (1:44.88). Much later, they teamed up to do the same in the 200 freestyle relay (1:35.47).

But for all their efforts, it wasn't enough to stop Plainfield, which jumped out to an early 50-43 lead over West Chicago/Batavia and never looked back. Plainfield swept all three relays, with Alex Netzel winning the 100 butterfly (54.37) and 100 backstroke (54.59), and his brother, Ryan, doing the same in the 500 freestyle (5:00.89). Adkins took first in the 100 freestyle in 51.53.

"This is a fun group we've got," said Plainfield coach George Sam, whose junior varsity team took first in its meet with 166 points, well ahead of Bartlett/Streamwood (118). "We won this last year so we wanted to try to repeat. Unfortunately, we lost a meet last week because of the weather, so this was fun. It was the first time since the new year to be in the water."

South Elgin took sixth with 27 points, just edging Elgin, with 23 points. The Storm got strong swims from Matt Rueger, who finished fourth in both the 100 butterfly (59.06) and 100 backstroke (1:00.97). Rueger teamed with Ross Urso, Josh Anderson and Vince Bongiovanni to take fifth in the 200 medley relay in 1:56.82, just behind Bartlett/Streamwood's entry of Mike McGrath, Luke Woerner, Alex Carras and Dan McDonnell (1:55.69).

From South Elgin coach Tim O'Grady's point of view, the future of the second-year program is bright, and should flourish over the coming weeks. O'Grady was particularly pleased with his JV team, which took fourth with 62 points.

"They're going to be pushed through conference, so we're really going to try to see the good times at sectionals," he said. "We're hoping that some of them drop a ton of time at sectionals, to kind of get motivated to do some work over the off-season, so we have more Matt Ruegers at the top for next year."

Elgin was led by Pablo Chavez, who won his 50 freestyle heat and finished fifth overall with a time of 25.19. Chavez also took sixth in the 100 freestyle in 54.91, and teamed with Jakob Woerner, Mayo Oluwamayamio and Durand Thorne to come in sixth in the 200 free relay at 1:46.35.

"I think we had a pretty good meet overall," said Elgin coach John Means. "The guys I expected to do pretty well did pretty well. I was surprised for a meet kind of in the middle of the season to see so much time drop."

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