Fast start helps Palatine past Rolling Meadows
In a meet that was an ending of sorts, Palatine's boys swimming and diving team produced one heck of a beginning.
The middle and finish weren't bad, either.
Friday's meet against Rolling Meadows marked the final home meet this season for the Pirates, whose facility is next in line for Dist. 211's continuing pool overhauls, and that work is all set to begin.
Palatine started the swimming portion by getting a 1-2 finish in the 200-meter medley relay, with Marcus Carter-Buckman, Alex Bartosik, Jordan Kalina and Oleksiy Korniychuk comprising the winning foursome.
"To go 1-2 like that in the medley, that was really something for us," said Palatine coach John Schauble.
Preceding that, Palatine diver Joseph Zhao delivered a eye-opening effort, breaking the school record in diving with a score of 242.20. That's a nearly 40-point improvement over his previous best.
"It's mainly a product of more practice time over the break - working hard and really being consistent in the time we've had to focus on details," said Palatine diving coach Curt Bendell. "We've known that he has great potential, and it's great to see it in a meet."
Rolling Meadows had more than its fair share of victories from that point forward but couldn't make up the scoring deficit it faced after the first two events as Palatine won 100-85.
Bright spots for the Mustangs included sophomore Josh Dellorto winning the 200-meter free in a tight race with Bartosik and later the 100 back against Carter-Buckman, sophomore Jake Pors winning the 100 free and junior Filip Pancerz taking top honors in the 100 fly. The Mustangs also won the 200 free relay with Dellorto, Pancerz, Pors and David Myers.
Coach Monika Chiappetta was pleased with her group's performance, especially in light of what she called the hardest dryland workout her team has ever done, conducted just the day before.
"Honestly, I'm really happy," she said. "We expected a tough contest. We knew there would be a lot of races where it would be great racing, all about who could get to the wall first. And I liked how we responded to that challenge - it's just that in a couple of cases, we were going up against superior swimmers."
Palatine's winners included Korniychuk in the 200 IM and 100 breast, Carter-Buckman in the 50 free and, in a crisp effort, Bartosik in the 400 free (4:25.57).
"Bartosik really went after it in the 400, which was good to see," said Schauble. "He's really got his legs working for him now, and it's making a big difference."
The teams return to dual meets against their MSL divisonal opponents next week. Rolling Meadows, unbeaten so far in the East, faces a key test at Wheeling; Palatine hosts Hoffman Estates in its temporary home at Fremd.
Schauble was pleased to wrap up this phase of the season against a program and coach he admires.
"It was such an honor to go up against Monika and her team," he said. "She is an awesome coach, and doing such a great job with those kids."
Barrington d. Prospect: The host Broncos stayed perfect against MSL foes with a 117-69 decision against the Knights.
Colin Cross won the 200 IM and 100 breast, and Colin O'Leary won the 50 free and 100 back for Barrington.
Other Broncos winners were John Lagoni in the 200 free (1:46.2), Jeremy Kleinjan in the 500 free (4:57.5) and Scott Robinson in the 100 fly.
Prospect got victories from a pair of juniors, Nick Partipilo in the 100 free (51.1) and Anthony Liva in diving (236.2).
The Broncos host Fremd next Friday in a meeting of MSL West unbeaten co-leaders.
Schaumburg d. Elk Grove: Matt Kelland and Tyler Gustafson each won a pair of races to help the visiting Saxons in a 104-66 triumph.
Schaumburg also got wins from Tyler Reynolds (500 free), Matthew Soltau (200 free), and Anthony Gershman (diving).
The Grens got wins late in the meet from Michael Banasik (100 back) and Adrian Wlodarz (100 breast).
Fremd d. Buffalo Grove: The visiting Vikings returned to MSL action with a dominant effort, finishing first in each event against the host Bison.
Nick Seroni was a double winner for the Vikes with impressive efforts in the 200-yard IM (1:59.86) and 100 fly (53.46). Other Fremd winners included Arnas Maciunas (200 free), Nick Nevins (50 free), Conor Dunne (100 free), Alex Schillinger (500 free), Jack Provan (100 back) and Ryan Dudar (100 breast).
In diving, Fremd's Zach Mega scored 248.05 to edge Buffalo Grove's Jack Delattre (238.65).
Wheeling d. Conant: It took a Wheeling victory in the 400-yard freestyle relay to pull out a 94-91 victory over the visiting Cougars.
Conant got victories from Cole Aykroid in diving (276.85) and in the 100-yard fly from Justin Lim (58.07) but had sufficient depth to prevent Wheeling from pulling away.
Wildcats winners included Nate Reiff (200 free, 100 breast), Jake Noel (50 free, 100 back), Kyle Noel (200 IM, 100 free), and Ricky Reeve (500 free). Wheeling won all three relays.