Wiliams, Barson share fifth-place finales
Every so often, an athlete is able to set a new standard at his school.
In boys swimming, it happened over the same four-year period at both Elk Grove at Rolling Meadows.
Those two programs share the same training facility, and they also ended up sharing some swimming greatness on Saturday.
Seniors Colin Williams and Jake Barson concluded their separate but uniqely parallel paths with fifth-place finishes in their best races in Satuday's boys swimming and diving championship at New Trier High School.
For Williams, it caps a brilliant finish to his high school swimming days. All three of his final 100-yard butterfly races were under 50 seconds.
No, he didn't to bring home the first-place medal. But he won't be bringing back any regret, either.
"We changed up the strategy a little bit - tried really sprinting the first half - but still got basically the same time," said Williams. "Sure, it would have been nice to be top-three. But I gave it everything I had."
And as coach Keith Kura pointed out, take a look at the people Williams was racing. Winner Franco Reyes of Hindsale Central and third-place finisher Matt Harrington of Libertyville each were racing in the finals for the second straight year; runner-up Daniel Hein of DeKalb won the consolation heat last year.
"You look at the guys who finished in front of him, and that's a pretty special group," Kura said.
As for any disappointment, Kura hopes it will be short-lived.
"My hope and belief is that will fade pretty quickly with time," Kura said. "I'm not disappointed at all. Colin sets high goals for himself, and that's part of why he's been so successful."
One of Williams' goals is to continue swimming in college. Kura has scouting report on Williams for anyone who might be interested in adding him to the roster.
"They'd be getting a really well-rounded swimmer who works hard every day," said Kura, "and the kind of swimmer who lays it on the line for his teammates."
Barson, after his 100 breaststroke, was describing how it felt to compete in the championship finals for the first time.
"I've never been so nervous before a race," he said. "But it felt pretty great."
In another talent-laden final heat, Barson slipped one place from his prelim qualifying spot to fifth place after finishing in 57.55.
In typical fashion, this actually seemed to please him, as it afforded he and Williams some more common ground. Last year, both finished 11th in their races. This year, their fifth-place efforts against left Elk Grove and Rolling Meadows tied in the team standings.
Taking it all in, as Barson's hard-earned medallion dangled from his neck, were two women very important to Barson.
His mom, Tiffany, is an assistant to St. Viator coach Jamie Klotz and thus had the unique perspective of an on-deck view for Jake's final high school meet.
"It's been such an amazing journey for him," Tiffany Barson said. "He's an incredible kid - and of course, I'm a little biased, but it's true. He's fought and scratched and worked so hard for everything he achieved."
Swimming will continue as a central endeavor for Barson as he pursues it next school year at Milwaukee. He said he was choosing to look at the end of his high school days as not truly the end, but as a kind of beginning.
"I don't know, maybe it can be a kind of launching pad," he said.
That would confirm what his high school coach, Monika Chiappetta, thinks is in store for Barson on campus.
"He's going to be that guy everybody's going to want to be around," she said.
A moment that occurred on deck at the state meet illustrates why.
Barson left for the blocks a little earlier than expected for his breaststroke race. Chiappetta didn't question him, figuring he had a good reason.
She was right - Barson was headed that way early in order to wish Elk Grove's Jack Falejczyk and Fremd's Daniel Suero good luck in their preceding heat of the 100 breaststroke for athleties with disabilities.
"You take this moment where Jake would have every right to be, 'it's about me, me, me,' " said Chiappetta, "but with him, it never is. He cares deeply about other people.
"He's got so much to offer this world. We just got to see a little piece of it."