Magical afternoon for MSL East at Glenbrook North

How did the Mid-Suburban East's top boys swimming teams stack up at the Glenbrook North sectional on Saturday afternoon?

In historically strong fashion, that's how.

With winners in 5 of the 8 individual swimming events, those East teams showed they certainly belonged in a field led by meet champion New Trier (287 points) and Glenbrook North (181.5).

Rolling Meadows had two event champions, while Hersey, Prospect and Elk Grove had one apiece in a show of strength and versatility.

Rolling Meadows added to its memorable season by finishing third with 157 points, 1 point better than Loyola, and breaking all kinds of new ground along the way.

The Mustangs placed second in the 200-yard medley relay as Filip Pancerz, Jake Barson, Tony Sarussi and Kuba Debkowski finished in 1:37.08 - almost a second faster than the state-qualifying standard. They'll be the first Rolling Meadows relay to compete in a state meet since 2002.

New Trier will host the state meet next weekend, with swimming and diving prelims on Friday and finals on Saturday.

The was plenty more good news for Rolling Meadows, which saw Debkowski, a junior, take a huge time drop in winning the 50 free in 21.24.

"Really surprising, in a good way," said Debkowski. "Wasn't expecting to be quite that fast today. I'll take it."

Freshman Josh Dellorto punched his first state ticket by finishing sixth in the 200 free (1:44.63), and senior Jake Barson became a first-time sectional champ in the 100 breaststroke (57.90). Barson also advanced in the 200 IM, finishing fifth in 1:57.67. He's looking forward to next week's attempt at a top-six state finish in the breaststroke, and knowing he'll have some company on deck is a big positive.

"That just makes the whole day," Barson said. "That was one of our main goals this year, to have more people race at state."

Coach Monika Chiappetta said Barson's breaststroke effort was his best of the year, and not only because it was a career-best time.

"He swam it absolutely perfectly, on a technical level, and that's really the first time he's done it," said Chiappetta. "I'm just really pleased about that."

Elk Grove senior Colin Williams is another who ought to be in the point-scoring picture at state, especially after winning the 100 fly in a personal-best 49.91. He also advanced for a second straight year in the 200 free (1:43.10) with a fourth-place finish.

"I've got some pretty high hopes for state," said Williams, "so today it felt good to get closer to those."

Though Elk Grove's free relays did not advance, Williams joined Bobby Hlavin, Adam Doruff and Michael Banasik in setting team records. Williams led off the 200 relay with a 50 leg of 21.71, and led of the 400 relay with a 100 leg of 47.18.

Also among the MSL East's champs was Prospect senior Sam Gabriel. A near miss to qualifying to the state meet last year, he said making it in such grand fashion this time was a big relief. Gabriel took control of his 100 back heat right from the start and won in a lifetime-best 51.80.

"Last year was disappointing, but it's a little different when you're just trying to qualify and come up a little short," he said. "This time, it's different. I'm going to state with the opportunity to finish in the top 12 and hopefully score some points."

Joining Gabriel as a state qualifier in the backstroke was Wheeling junior Jake Noel. He overcame the disappointment of just missing the 200 IM cut to produce a 100 back effort that was well under the state cut, placing fourth in 53.13.

Noel later anchored a terrific 400 free relay for Wheeling. Kyle Noel led off in 48.79, followed by Justin Loquercio (48.99) and Nate Reiff (47.01) as the Wildcats finished second in a team-record and state-qualifying 3:13.22. The same foursome also qualified to state in the 200 medley relay in another team-record time, 1:37.87.

"With Jake, the backstroke is really 'his' event," said Wheeling coach Tod Schwager. "We feel good about it, because he's definitely on a track to be faster at state."

Count Hersey freshman Michael Petro among the MSL East's champs. He won the 200 IM in 1:52.91, almost three seconds ahead of his nearest competitor.

"Honestly, I was thinking maybe 1:54 today," said Hersey coach Dick Mortensen. "He's even faster than we were thinking he'd be."

In the 100 fly, Petro was second in 50.67, a time that will give him a great seed in the state prelims.

Petro said the chance to race with a little extra energy was a welcome change from the steady stream of hard work that went into producing such fast times.

"A lot of time while you're going through it, you're kind of wondering, 'Why am I even doing this?' " said Petro. "But then you get to this point of the season, and it's so totally worth it."

Hersey senior Paul Kim added to Petro's season-long reworking of the team record book by finishing fourth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:02.07.

And then there's one of Petro's club teammates, freshman Michael Balcerak of St. Viator.

He was a close third behind two of the state's top 200 freestylers, New Trier's Murphy McQuet and Loyola's Chris Kearney, finishing in a state-qualifying 1:42.98.

And then Balcerak produced a stirring last 25 to win the 100 free in 46.67 - ahead of both McQuet and Kearney.

"I know being in a race with guys like that, it's going to take your best," said Balcerak of his 100 race. "I'm glad it turned out the way it did."

So was Lions coach Jamie Klotz, who saw his team take a giant collective leap forward. Though Balcerak was St. Viator's only state qualifier, both free relays came close to advancing and the day produced almost nothing but lifetime bests for the Lions.

Balcerak, Brandon Calderon, Shea Boyer and Keegan Finn finished fifth in the 400 free relay in 3:16.11; the same foursome placed fourth in the 200 free relay in 1:28.63.

Maybe it was a little of that MSL East magic rubbing off, as Klotz is in his first season at St .Viator after a long run at Buffalo Grove.

"What I'm most proud of is that our guys showed they really belong in company like this," said Klotz, gesturing to the emptying pool deck at Glenbrook North after the completion of the meet. "At the start of the season, I'm not really sure that was true.

"We swam with heart and determination - we had guys willing to step up and race for each other."

Deerfield's Sean Scarry earned the automatic state bid in diving by winning with a superlative score of 572.90.

Hersey's Riley Busche (412.65, sixth), Buffalo Grove's Jack Dellanttre (405.80, seventh) and Prospect's Stephen Schmit (404.70, eighth) will be among those hoping for at-large advancement to state.