Head's up: Sesvold has a big day at state

While he admits to having tried most every sport that can be played, Tyler Sesvold always gravitated toward swimming, and he's been involved since a young age.

He mentioned that his mother thought it would be a good sport because athletes don't get injured in swimming the way they do in other sports.

"I had a year and a half with five injuries and three surgeries," Sesvold said, who endured ankle as well as shoulder surgeries.

"I know a lot of guys talk about how things like that wipe them out mentally," Sesvold said. "I just went with it. It was bad, of course, but I kept my head high. That's your choice, keeping your head low or your head high. I just kept looking up and made sure every practice I went to, I had fun."

The injuries were well behind Sesvold this weekend, where the Alabama-bound swimmer finished his senior season by placing third in the 100-yard butterfly and second in the 100 backstroke.

"It was just fun," Sesvold said. "You never want to go into a meet as a bunch of nerves or full of expectations. That's when you don't perform well. You want to have fun."

Hinsdale Central battled Lyons Twp. throughout the afternoon, but the Red Devils fell 156.5-142 to their West Suburban Silver rivals. The runner-up trophy marked the fifth straight trophy won by Bob Barber's team.

"We were on fire," Barber said. "We were ready for a Saturday performance. We just fell a little short, but we swam really well. I'm proud of everything that Lyons did and I'm proud of everything that our guys did to make things closer."

For the intensity of the Hinsdale Central-Lyons rivalry - and both teams desperately wanted to win - there is also a friendliness to the competition that starts with Barber and Lions coach Scott Walker and extends through the team's rosters.

"A lot of these guys are club teammates," Barber said. "We're fortunate to have a club like that to feed into both programs. I grew up with the Walkers in my life. I'm very proud of everything I can do in swimming because of them, so it's special to me to see them perform at a high level."

Naperville Central and Naperville North tied for ninth, with each scoring 52 points. Naperville Central's top performance came when Phillip Sajaev finished third in the 100 breaststroke.

"I didn't have much time to think after the breaststroke because I had to come back and swim in the relay," Sajaev said. "But now that the meet's over, I'm processing that my high school career is over. It's hard to believe it's all over now after four hard years of high school swimming."

Sajaev said his progression from being a newcomer onto a team that is always a contender took adjustment. The Redhawks finished fourth, third and second in his previous years in the program.

"Freshman year, I was taken aback by how much training there was," Sajaev said. "I liked the training and getting faster every year. Now senior year, I've gotten the school record, so that was good."

The Redhawks other points came from their relays. The 200 medley relay was sixth, the 200 freestyle relay finished ninth and the 400 freestyle relay was 12th.

"It's been a good weekend," Naperville Central coach Mike Adams said. "We had a number of nice swims yesterday and had a number of nice swims again today. Every year after the state meet, whether you win it or you finish 45th, you're always looking to improve, and this year is no exception."

Naperville North carried a strong prelim performance into the finals. The Huskies finished fifth in the 200 medley relay and ninth in the 200 freestyle relay. Diver Zach Richards was eighth while Horace Qiao was fifth in the 200 IM and sixth in the 100 butterfly.

"We had some great times throughout today," Naperville North coach Andy McWhirter said. "We had discussions with the 400 free relay here at the end that we were looking to try to beat Naperville Central in the meet. We went out, got third in the consolation heat and dropped a second and a half and ended up tying Naperville Central."

The Huskies graduate Richards and swimmers Keegan Riggs and Nick Zillier, who scored relay points on Saturday but Noah Ellis and Qiao return.

"We lost a couple of great seniors, but we've got some great underclassmen coming up," McWhirter said. "Many of them were here today to see what kind of work is involved so they can be swimming on Saturday next year."

Waubonsie Valley finished 19th with Jared Thompson placing fourth in the 100 backstroke and 10th in the 200 IM and Bryan Ellig eighth in the 100 breaststroke. Neuqua Valley's Jacob Cunningham was 12th in the 50 freestyle, diver Robert Nowkicki was 12th and the Wildcats 200 freestyle relay was seventh.

Metea Valley's 200 medley relay was 10th and Connor Mitsch was seventh in the 100 backstroke. Lake Park's Ben Kimmel was 10th in the 100 backstroke and Eric Sgarbossa was 12th in the 100 breaststroke.