Wheaton North's St. George elbows his way to state record
Wheaton North student Max St. George has enjoyed playing baseball, but an elbow injury that required surgery last summer ended that portion of his sports participation spectrum.
Another portion - swimming - is thriving.
St. George, a senior, hit the swimming equivalent of a grand slam, breaking the state record in the 100-yard backstroke in Friday's swimming and diving preliminaries at New Trier High School in Winnetka.
His 48.07 clocking erased the mark set two years ago by Loyola's Andrew Jovanovic and makes St. George the top qualifier for the finals heat by nearly a second when the state meet resumes at noon Saturday.
"I'm done with baseball now," St. George said, "but that's OK."
Duke University agrees and will welcome the fastest backstroker in Illinois history to its campus next fall.
St. George, swimming for Wheaton Warrenville co-op, also earned a spot in the championship heat of the 200 IM, qualifying fifth overall in 1:52.57.
The team will also get point-scoring efforts from a medley relay in the consolation finals, and senior Matt Rogers will join St. George in the consolation finals of the backstroke after qualifying 11th in 51.93.
Wheaton Warrenville coach Jacob Ayers wasn't exactly surprised by the efforts he saw from what he called the best team the program has produced since the 2004-05 season.
"It's a great group of guys," Ayers said. "With Max, he's a senior and as the top qualifier in the event, we knew he'd be fast, but it's great to see him get the record.
"The surgery over the summer ... coming back from something like that is always a concern."
Both Ayers and St. George said an even faster swim in finals might be forthcoming.
"I'm thinking 47," St. George said. "I've got a couple places in the race where I think I can improve."
Metea Valley took a big step toward the program's best state meet finish with a strong prelims showing. Robert Wang, Jordan O'Brien, Alex Dillman and Matt Salerno got things started by delivering the top qualifying effort in the 200 medley relay.
"We knew the medley could be very good," said Mustangs assistant coach Tom Schweer, "but we hadn't had all four of them hit on the same day - until today."
O'Brien and Salerno both will race in two event finals apiece. O'Brien has the 200 IM, where he qualified second in 1:51.03. Salerno qualified fourth in the 50 free. And once again, the state's top two finishers from last season will compete for a state title in the 100 breaststroke after claiming the top two qualifying spots, O'Brien leading the way at 55.23.
Dillman might have had the swim of the day for Metea Valley, qualifying sixth in the 100 fly in 49.84.
Naperville Central coach Mike Adams said he thought the day went reasonably well for the Redhawks, who will get big points from having all three relays competing in finals.
Naperville Central individuals who will compete in the championship heats include junior Scott Piper (200 IM), junior Jimmy Fox (500 free) and sophomore Phillip Sajaev (100 breast).
And Piper gets a race in the consolation heat of the 100 backstroke after qualifying seventh.
"You live and die with every race here," Adams said. "We had some very good things happen today, along with a couple of disappointments. Part of the key to succeeding is to have kids that are quickly able to move on to, 'What's next?' I think we did that."
Hinsdale Central also sent all the relays into championship heats and is well positioned for a trophy run.
Leading the way individually for the Red Devils are second-day qualifiers Franco Reyes (100 fly, first), Adam Pircon (500 free, fourth; 200 free, fifth) and Brian Portland (100 free, seventh).
Waubonsie Valley junior Michael Schwers earned a finals spot in the 100 fly and a consolation spot in the 200 free.
Consolation qualifiers from DuPage County include West Chicago/Batavia co-op freshman Garrett Clasen (200 IM), Waubonsie Valley senior Bradin Krug (100 fly), Naperville Central senior Connor Walsh (100 free) and Metea Valley junior Kevin Kluge (500 free).