Fremd turns the tables
If you get a chance to attend the state meet at Evanston this weekend, you won't have to look too hard to find their colors.
Because after Saturday's impressive sectional win at Barrington -- unlike some recent trips to the season's biggest stage -- the Fremd Vikings will have a host of talented swimmers proudly representing the green and gold.
"The previous couple of years, we've just had a couple individuals go to state," Fremd coach Nicole LaBeau said after being named sectional coach of the year and taking a celebratory swim with her squad. "This year it's nice to have a substantial team going down, not just a handful here and there."
After losing to Barrington by more than 80 points at last Saturday's Mid-Suburban League meet, Fremd returned the favor, scoring 289 to Barrington's 273. Cary-Grove finished third with 170, followed by Conant (138.50) and Woodstock (95).
"Fremd was outstanding," said Barrington coach Jim Bart. "They were ready to go and deserved to be the winner."
Fremd junior Sam Childs, who had the 100 and 200 free on his radar heading into the meet, opened with a personal-best 1:43.41 in the 200 -- more than four seconds faster than his seed time -- as he held off Barrington senior Sam Barnett (state-qualifying 1:47.18) for the second week in a row.
"The taper was the biggest difference," Childs said.
Fremd senior Anthony Palcheck, who also finished third in the 500 free (4:58.32), took third in the 200 in 1:48.46.
Childs was just as impressive, and maybe more, in the 100 free, as he broke the five-year-old sectional record by nearly three-quarters of a second (46.97).
Fremd sophomore Sean Gonzalez took third in 48.61, advancing to the next round by .12.
Fremd freshman Jeff Freund shaved more than seven seconds off his seed time in the 500 free with a 4:52.50.
"I was hoping just to drop time and make it to state," said Freund, who finished ahead of Barnett (4:55.07).
Fremd junior Varun Shivakumar responded from last week's loss in the 100 backstroke by winning the sectional title in 53.67, defeating Barrington junior Brian Marko (54.37) and Jacobs' Sean Kelly (55.09), who'll both be swimming the event next week at state.
"Today was just about qualifying," said Shivakumar, who also qualified in the 200 IM (2:00.83). "I wish I could have gone a little faster but I'm happy. That will set me up for state."
Defending sectional champion Barrington opened the meet in record fashion as Marko, Ben Redpath, Justin Yu, and Nick Santoro won the 200 medley relay in a sectional- and pool-best time of 1:38.44.
Fremd took second in 1:39.98 and Cary-Grove finished third (1:40.06), as both teams posted state-qualifying times.
"Looking at the old record (1:38.85 by Barrington in 2007) which had Chris Cornillie and Eric Clement, and to say that we beat that record, it feels really good," Marko said.
But the Broncos' junior wasn't done rewriting the record books. He took the 100 fly in a sectional-record 53.25.
Lake Zurich senior Dan Beshoar, who missed qualifying in the 100 fly by .03, made it in the 50 free with a second-place time of 21.88. Santoro took third (22.14) in the 50 and also made the cut.
Redpath, who also swam on the Broncos' winning 200 free and 400 free relays with Santoro, Barnett and Yu (2nd in 100 breaststroke; 1:01.41), took the 200 IM title in 1:58.64. Kelly finished second in the IM with a state-qualifying time of 2:00.56.
Fremd sophomore Brandon Trostrud took the sectional diving title with 387.75 points, followed by Conant junior Nick Rizza (371.75) and Vikings' junior Evan Ruggiero (365.75).
The Vikings finished second to Barrington in the 200 free (1:28.66) and 400 free (3:14.99) relays, but like most everything else they did Saturday, they were state-quality efforts.
"All of our relays pulled together to take care of business and that was great to see," LaBeau said.