Boys swimming: St. Charles East showing its mettle
It's clear at this point of the season that St. Charles East's boys swimming team is among the state's best this year. The Saints have put together a strong early season string of results, and that run continued Thursday with a 134-52 victory over crosstown rival St. Charles North.
The Saints won 11 of 12 events and earned their first victory over the visiting North Stars since St. Charles North's first season.
"I feel like it was a win, overall, as a team," St. Charles East senior Charlie Young III said. "As the season goes on, we're getting closer and closer and I feel the sky's the limit for us."
Young was part of a 1-2-3 Saints sweep in the 100-yard backstroke, which involved event champion Nick Boryk and Kyle Lewarchick. Young also swam in the Saints' second team in the 400 freestyle relay, which finished third. The team's top relay completed a sweep of the relays with victory in the event.
"It is a good feeling after a win or in the locker room after a practice that we're all working, hopefully, a state championship in the end," he said.
In one sense, there is an abundance of time remaining in the season, which doesn't conclude until the Feb. 24-25 state meet at New Trier.
"We're at the halfway mark," St. Charles East coach Joe Cabel said. "These guys have surprised us just a little bit, but they're a pretty tight, cohesive group. They worry about each other and are concerned about swimming fast for each other. That's neat to see."
St. Charles East's winners included Kyle Dunlap in the 200 freestyle and the 100 freestyle; Lewarchick in the 200 IM; Kevin Nagler in the 50 freestyle; Joseph Scimeca in diving, Austin Cabel in the 500 freestyle, Boryk in the 100 backstroke and Garrett Prybyl in the 100 breaststroke.
"We're looking good but we've got a couple of really tough weeks coming up. If we survive those, we'll be OK," Cabel said.
St. Charles North's lone event victory came from sophomore Will Myhre in the 100 butterfly. Thursday's meet was the first for both teams since holiday break training, which is always brutally hard for all teams. Myhre said he had no trouble preparing for the East-North meet.
"Even on the bus in the way over here, I was pumped and motivated and I tried to do my best to spread it through the team," Myhre said.
Like Myhre, much of the North Stars team is youthful yet talented.
"I'm really happy with how some of the young kids are doing, " St. Charles North coach Rob Rooney said. "A couple of the older kids like Jack Williams and Caymus (Cairns) whose work ethic is something I'm happy with. There's a lot of good things going on within this team."
Yet the building blocks are there for Rooney and the North Stars.
"I feel our team is strong in team spirit," Myhre said. "We support one another and that's key if you want to be successful in the end. We came into this meet knowing (St. Charles East) was good. We stuck together, fought hard and put forth our best effort."