Barrington visits Fremd in battle of heavyweights
Fremd hosts Barrington in a head-to-head matchup between what are clearly the Mid-Suburban League's best dual meet teams at 4:30 p.m. today.
The Vikings figure to have an edge in depth, especially in the all-important sprint freestyles, behind competitors like Sam Childs, Dustin Anderson and Sean Gonzalez. And senior standout Varun Shivakumar is off to a terrific start. But Brian Marko and Justin Yu give the Broncos a decisive edge in the butterfly and breaststroke, so it ought to be interesting to see how this one plays out.
Funny thing is, all the MSL matchups figure to be downright entertaining, with well-matched teams fighting for victories:
• At Schaumburg, Conant probably has better depth but the Saxons have a nice group of front-line competitors.
• At Palatine, the Pirates are hungry for their first win but Hoffman Estates had a nice showing last Friday in a victory over Wheeling.
• At Prospect, Buffalo Grove aims to demonstrate it can contend for the East crown. Both teams have quality top-end performers and decent depth.
• At Hersey, an improving Huskies squad meets an Elk Grove team on the upswing and boasting talented freshman Carl Sugihara.
• And at Wheeling, Rolling Meadows tests its young lineup against an equally untested Wildcats bunch.
Rodriguez, part II: His older sister Erin just finished a standout swimming career at Buffalo Grove, and freshman Ian Rodriguez is already making a name for himself.
Ian won a pair of races - the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke - in a season-opening meet last Friday at Palatine. Coach Jamie Klotz likes what he sees in the newcomer.
"He's just a really good kid - very coachable and a great listener," said Klotz. "It's going to be great to see him develop."
Strategy session: At St. Viator, first-year coach Alfonso Lopez is taking what he's learned as a competitor and is applying it to the Lions.
That means putting the focus on sprints.
"With the relays, we'll focus on the medley and 200 free," said Lopez. "With our guys, I just think it makes sense to concentrate on sprints. They've shown me they've got a good work ethic."
Still, Lopez gets the sense that he's putting his athletes through much tougher training sessions than they've had before. For that reason, it was key that the Lions produce good results in the invite they hosted Wednesday.
"I've got guys telling me they're tired," said Lopez, "but I'm going to keep working them until the end of the year. We're going to get them to the point where they get the best possible burn (taper) at the end - but that whole idea is new to a lot of my guys."
Team effort: St. Viator coach Alfonso Lopez is making changes with the Lions' program, but one thing he hopes remains constant is the help he's getting from the parents of his swimmers.
"The family support has just been unbelievable," said Lopez. "The parents have just stepped up everywhere. They're ready to help, and I don't have to ask for anything. I've never seen anything like it - they're the reason everything has been running so smoothly here."
It's time: We present today the first swimming honor roll of the season. It will be updated and presented each Friday, except for a two-week break around the Christmas and New Year's holidays.
It's inevitable that certain performances will be missing, so if you see any corrections or other problems, please send an e-mail (agabriel@dailyherald.com) or call me at (847) 427-4439.