Boys swimming: St. Charles East knocks down sectional crown

It's one thing to score points at an IHSA sectional meet by having your athletes finish third or fourth or even fifth and having those points add up to the sectional title. It's another thing when those finishes qualify athletes to the state meet.

St. Charles East - which won the meet after scoring 295 points and meet host St. Charles North, which finished second with 265 points, both saw a number of athletes swim under the state qualifying and advance to next weekend's IHSA state meet in Evanston, which is always everyone's goal.

St. Charles East qualified all three relays and takes an additional eight entries to the state meet.

"We were a little shellshocked after finishing second at conference and the meets before conference, we kept getting second," St. Charles East coach Adam Musial said. "We thought we could get first, so coming away with the sectional title is nice. It's good for the kids and it gets them excited that we were able to do this today."

Among those Saints who qualified was junior Garrett Prybel, who finished fourth in the 200 IM and later finished fourth in the 100 breaststroke.

"A lot of us were a little worried after the conference meet because we didn't perform as well as we felt we could," Prybel said. "We wanted to work to get the job done today, because this is the meet to get us to the state meet. If we didn't nail this today, we wouldn't have gotten to state."

Prybel said most of the Saints weren't rested for the sectional. He said he wore his fast suit just as a confidence move, but that the full taper will hit this week, which should mean some large time drops at the state meet.

"Next week's a big week. I feel we're well-bonded this year. We all have a friendship and trust in other, and next weekend will be great," Prybell said.

One of the athletes who was rested for the sectional was freshman Calvin Windle, who qualified the 100 butterfly and the 100 backstroke after finishing third in each event.

"Winning the sectional meet shows our ability to pull off some good races," Windle said. "After a long season and lot of hard work, I feel really happy about my races today, and I'm really ready to go with the team. We're going to swim our hearts out and do the best we can."

St. Charles East's other qualifiers included Kyle Lewarchik in the 200 IM, Matt Nagle in the 50 freestyle, Mitch Milosch in the 100 backstroke and Sean Yetter in the 100 breaststroke and diver Joey Scimeca. Of St. Charles East's top performances, the 200 freestyle relay broke the St. Charles North pool record.

St. Charles North also qualified all three relays and has an additional eight entries headed to Evanston. The North Stars rewrote their own record board on Saturday, breaking three pool records.

"I was very proud of the boys as we're very young," St. Charles North coach Rob Rooney said. "We had some boys who risked it today and trusted that it would work. There were some heartbreaks, especially with some early swims, but they all stood tall and they did some really good stuff today."

If there was one moment that showed the emotion of the meet, it came in the 100 breaststroke, when senior Sam Kalenowski swam 59.76, finished fifth and qualified by .04 for his first state meet.

"It was crazy, there was so much emotion at once," Kalenowski said. "I was looking across the pool at my teammates, and they were all waiting just like me. Then they were all jumping up and down and just as excited as I was."

While there has been much talk about the sophomores on the North Stars team, and Myhre, who is a junior, Kalenowski is one swimmer whose high school career will end next weekend.

"Being on the same level as all these crazy fast swimmers - I can't really describe how it feels - but it's great. It's exciting to finally be part of it, and I have another opportunity to go faster than I did today," Kalenowski.

Myhre set pool records while winning the 200 IM and the 100 breaststroke. The third pool record set by the North Stars came in the 200 medley relay. Other St. Charles North qualifiers included Nathan Baxter in the 100 butterfly, Brad Whitehurst and Rick Williams in the 500 freestyle and Srboljub Filipovic in the 100 backstroke.

Glenbard North qualified three entries to the state meet. Peter Andreev won the 50 freestyle and the 100 freestyle and returns to the state meet. Andreev said he tapered for the sectional meet, but added that he did the same thing a year ago and dropped time between the sectional and state meets.

"I was seeded to win both events, and that's what I did. Now I hope to go Top 12 in those events at the state meet. In my 100 free, I missed the second wall badly, so I'm happy with the time given that," Andreev said.

Glenbard North senior Bennet Witteveen qualified for the state meet by winning the 200 freestyle. The son of Lake Park swimming coach Dan Witteveen, Bennet will conclude his high school career on-deck with his father, whose team qualified Benjamin Kimmel for the state meet at the Downers Grove North Sectional.

"It's my last year, and I made it count," Witteveen said. "When I finished and saw my time, I was so excited. I swam my cool-down with the biggest smile on my face."

Witteveen had come close to state meet qualification, but had always missed the cut. Not only did he qualify for finishing first, his time was well under the state cut.

"I was fully-tapered for the sectional meet, but I'm going to get ready to go nuts at the state meet. I can't wait, I'm so excited. It's a big relief after a couple of years of just missing."

West Chicago-Batavia gained a pair of entries in the state meet thanks to a pair of qualifying swims by Keegan Hawkins, who finished second in the 200 IM and later finished second in the 100 breaststroke.

"For not being rested, I feel pretty good. I want to see what next weekend holds," Hawkins said.

Two weeks ago at the Upstate Eight Conference meet, Hawkins swam the 50 freestyle and the 500 freestyle, events he knew he would not swim at the sectional. West Chicago-Batavia coach Nicole Luedtke said the move was made to keep Hawkins fresh for the sectional, and the swimmer affirmed that the move worked on Saturday.

"Freshman year, I swam my sectional events pretty much the whole year," Hawkins said. "I thought if I swam these events just at sectional, I'd be fresh and drop some time, even though I was tired. That's what I did, so I'm proud of that."