Honsa wins twice, but Lancers lose to Saints

Competing in the first of two dual meets during finals week, St. Charles East's boys swimming team showed its mettle Tuesday afternoon at the Norris Recreation Center.

Moments after his victorious 100-yard breaststroke finish, Ken Tiltges returned to rally his 400 freestyle relay team to a first-place finish while helping lift the Saints to a 99-83 Upstate Eight Conference triumph over visiting Lake Park.

"That was a tough relay," said Saints coach Joe Cabel. "Ken was just coming out of the breaststroke. That's a hard combo. But he battled with it, had a good split and pulled the win out so that was awesome."

Cabel was pleased with his team's intestinal fortitude even though he admitted it wasn't the prettiest of victories.

"Sometimes if you win ugly and you still win, it's a good win," Cabel said. "We're in the middle of finals right now, so trying to stay focused is a bit of a challenge, but they did a good job.

"We looked better than we did last Saturday (at the College Events Invitational). We just didn't have the racing edge last week. It came back tonight."

The day's closest event actually resulted in a dead heat, as Saints senior B.J. Roth and Lancers freshman Nathan Schingoethe posted identical times in the 100 back.

Lake Park coach Dan Witteveen liked what he saw from Schingoethe and double-event champion Bryant Honsa.

"Nathan is swimming really well right now," Witteveen said. "He's got an outside shot at making the (state) cut.

"Coming into the beginning of the year, he was like a 1:04, 1:05, and now he's at 58. That's pretty good."

As was Honsa's individual effort, which included victories in the 200 and 500 free. His time in the latter race was just six-tenths of a second off his first-place sectional clocking from a year ago.

"I think he's got a great shot at doing some damage this year," Witteveen said. "He looks smooth."

Honsa anchored the Lancers' first-place 200 free relay finish just a few minutes after his grueling 500 free victory.

"It hurts so bad to go into that event (200 free relay) right after the 500," said Honsa, who was joined by teammates Bryan Medema, Aaron Casper and Marcus Julian.

St. Charles East also received victories from Carnell (50, 100 free) and Blake Pleasant (100 fly), while Tim Frawley (diving) added an individual title for Lake Park.