Conant speeds up after intense holiday training
With all of those holiday practices behind them, the Conant Cougars got a chance on Thursday to see if all those yards paid off.
They did.
In the their first dual meet since the break, Cougars exploded with fast times in a 119-67 Mid-Suburban boys swimming crossover win over Hersey at Olympic pool in Arlington Heights.
"They're tired, they're definite tired," said Conant coach Brian Drenth. "They've swam the most amount of yards and the most intense (training) in my eight years here. They responded well."
The Cougars established themselves early when Anton Andonov, Jacob Jeske, Yukinobu Morita and Ryan Chiero swam a 1:51.93 in the 200-yard medley relay to edge Hersey's Matt Adams, Steve Austin, Tony Ponzo and Paul Miszczszyn (1:53.91).
From there, some Conant standouts really took off.
"The big-name guys -- Mike McGuire, Chris Emery and Will Landgren -- they're always solid," Drenth said. "They continued swimming fast like they usually do. It helps us swim well and compete well in the meets."
That group teamed with Blaine Grzegorek to win the 200 (1:35.66) and 400 (3:29.62) freestyle relays.
Emery added a pair of individual firsts in the 200 free (1:55.27) and 100 free (51.13). Landgren won the IM (2:08.18), and McGuire touched first in the 500 (5:18.50).
Jacob Jeske won the breaststroke in 1:07.23.
Diver Jeff Mitchem scored 170.95 points to add another Cougars win.
"Today was a good thing to see -- especially since we were swimming tired," said Drenth, whose home pool is measured in meters. It was good to see those times.
"Overall, it was a good effort. It was exciting for the guys and to watch them to see what they can do."
Although on the losing side, the Huskies also showed a lot of promise after their own tough training in the form of improved times.
"That's something you always think about coming out of winter practice -- has it paid off? It definitely has," said Hersey coach Tod Schwager. "We had a lot of good swims out of the guys today."
Ponzo had a pair of individual firsts for the Huskies, winning the 50 (24.13) and butterfly (58.63).
"Tony Ponzo really started kicking it in gear today," Schwager said. "There's some leaders that are really starting to drive the team. A lot of people are either at their best or second to their best. It's good to still drop time even if you're swimming tired."
Adams (1:04.94) led a 1-2 finish for Hersey in the backstroke ahead of John Poelking (1:06.48).