St. Charles North has a stellar opening day at state
From race to race on Friday, St. Charles North's boys swimmers showed a steady stream of excellence at the state prelims in Evanston.
The North Stars have four swims in Saturday's finals, but all are swims in the championship heat and the team is certain to walk away from the meet with a solid finish.
That strong performance came on the heels of a sectional in which St. Charles North excelled until the 400-yard freestyle relay, which failed to qualify.
"The highlight today was how resilient we were," St. Charles North coach Rob Rooney said. "In life, you can either be resilient or not be resilient, and they were resilient. It has been an awesome day for St. Charles North and I am very glad St. Charles East is back on the board too."
St. Charles North had the fifth-fastest 200 medley relay time and the fourth-fastest 200 freestyle relay time.
Joe Myhre was the fourth-fastest qualifier in the 100 freestyle and freshman Will Myhre capped the day with the fastest preliminary swim in the 100 breaststroke.
"I could not be more proud of these guys for being fighters," Rooney said. "That is going to be a great breaststroke race (Saturday). I am very stoked with what this young man did."
As Rooney noted, St. Charles East had a strong day at prelims. The 200 freestyle relay and the 400 freestyle relay qualified for the consolation final. Additionally, Mitch Milosch swims in the championship final in the 100 butterfly and the consolation final in the 100 backstroke.
"We had a couple events where we finished 13th in the front half of the meet and that's tough to swallow," St. Charles East coach Joe Cabel said.
Despite those setbacks, including a near miss in the 200 medley relay, the Saints will score points after being shutout in 2015.
"We're back on the board and that is a good thing," Cabel said. "When (Milosch) put that time up in the fly, I think that took some pressure off us."
Marmion is represented in the finals by Will Kamps, who was fourth-fastest in the 500 freestyle.
"Will swam well in the IM and it's unfortunate he didn't' make it back in that as well," Marmion coach Bill Schalz said. "But he did well in the 500. He set a personal record and the school record and we'll see if he can do a little better tomorrow."
The Cadets otherwise had near missed on Friday from a youthful qualifying group of swimmers.
"We had four freshmen or sophomores in this meet today and we had to do some things to get them here. But this is a team that, in the next two years, could be in the hunt for a trophy."
West Chicago-Batavia will be represented in the finals by Garrett Clasen, who qualified for the 200 IM consolation final.
Friday was a day for West Aurora sophomore Tyler McLaren to gather experience with his 200 IM swim. As his school's first boys swimming state qualifier in some time, McLaren was hardly disappointed he did not earn a spot in the finals.
"The sectional swim and the race today, they felt very similar," McLaren said. "I wish I could have gone faster, but it's a learning experience. Now I'm a little more motivated for next year."
Cary-Grove senior Cooper Langanis made the most of his final state meet, earning his first point-scoring finish by qualifying into the consolation heat of the 200 freestyle with an 11th-place effort in 1:42.78, an improvement on his sectional effort.
In the 500 free, Langanis was a near miss in an effort to earn a Saturday swim, finishing 19th in 4:40.97.
McHenry senior Kevin Braun will have a pair of finals races. He's the top seed in the 50 free (20.71) and the No. 3 seed in the 100 free (45.32).
DeKalb senior Dan Hein had the day's only state record, in the 100-yard backstroke. The Missouri-bound standout became the first Illinois swimmer to swim it in under 48 seconds in the event, qualifying to finals in 47.97.