Barrington looking tough
Facing archrival Fremd in the final tuneup before the Mid-Suburban League boys swimming meet, the Barrington Broncos were determined to prove how good they really are.
With first-place finishes in 10 of the 12 events, the host Broncos capped a third straight undefeated dual-meet season with a 100-85 victory over win over Fremd.
"Fremd is a great team and it's always such a huge rivalry when we get to swim against them," said senior Nick Santoro after winning the 50 and 100 freestyle races. "We know they were really excited to come in here and we were really excited for them to be in here and it showed. Everybody swam well and people dropped time. It was a good meet all around and I'm proud of my team."
Santoro swam a personal-best 48.55 in the 100 and also helped Barrington to a pair of relay wins.
Justin Yu won the 100 breaststroke and swam a season-best 1:59.38 in the 200 IM. Sam Barnett took first in the 200 and 500 free, while Brian Marko easily won the 100 fly.
The Broncos swept all three relays behind combinations of Marko, Yu, Santoro and Barnett joining with Ben Redpath and Dan Comyn.
"We had tremendous performances from every kid in the lineup. I'm real happy," said Barrington coach Jim Bart. "We knew Fremd would be tough coming in. We swam and dove well today and Fremd was up to the challenge."
The Vikings got their first win of the day at the diving board when Brandon Trostrud took first with 188.90.
Varun Shivakumar won the 100 back for Fremd, which stayed close to the Broncos with plenty of second-, third- and fourth-place finishes.
With the MSL meet -- which the Broncos will host -- just around the corner, the Vikings received a great test.
"We knew it would be tough competition, really stiff today and (Barrington) didn't disappoint us," Shivakumar said. "They were going blazing fast today. It's really nice to have this competition, especially now before conference."
Fremd coach Nicole LaBeau was happy that, despite the loss, her team kept the score close. She pointed out that freshman Jeff Freund swam a personal-best 5:00.17 in the 500 free and Andrew Heideman posted a state-qualifying time of 1:02.19 in the 100 breaststroke.
"They swam really well for where they need to be for conference," LaBeau said.