For Fremd seniors, it's showtime
Friday's marquee matchup in Mid-Suburban League boys swimming delivered as advertised.
Host Fremd, displaying uncommon depth as well as impressive front-line talent, earned a satisfying 98-88 victory over rival Barrington in a clash between the league's best teams. The victory was especially sweet for the Vikings' seniors, who hadn't beaten the Broncos in a dual meet in their high school careers.
"You know, it feels great," said Fremd senior Varun Shivakumar. "They've always been a battle for us - we've either lost by a few points, or been blown out."
Not this time. Competitive races throughout the meet had a loud crowd involved the whole way through, and the Fremd half of the stands was visibly and audibly pleased when the final numbers were tallied.
Said Fremd coach Nicole LaBeau: "We consider this an opportunity that we seized."
Not without a struggle, though.
Barrington had strong performances from seniors Brian Marko and Justin Yu. Marko won the 100 fly and Yu won the 100 free, but Shivakumar edged Marko in the 100 back and touched out Yu in the 200 IM. The victory against Yu in particular was rewarding for Fremd's 6-foot-4 standout.
"That's the first time in my career I've been able to beat him in the IM, and yeah, I won't lie, it's nice," said Shivakumar. "I've known Justin since we were like 7 - he's a great swimmer and a great guy, too."
Fremd also got key wins from sophomore Dustin Anderson in the 200 free, Jeff Freund in the 400 free, Evan Ruggiero in diving and from Sean Gonzalez, Shivakumar, Anderson and Sam Childs in the 400 free relay.
The Vikings had a nice spurt in the first half of the meet with consecutive victories in the 200 freestyle from Anderson and in the 200 IM from Shivakumar before a 1-2 finish in the 50 free by Alex Mikolajewski and Gonzalez. Fremd's foursome of Gonzalez, Brent Caras, Mikolajewski and Anderson also won the 200 free relay.
For Barrington coach Jim Bart, it simply came down to a battle of wills.
"I mean, they won all the touch-outs," he said. "They beat us at the walls, and that was that."
The Broncos had their moments, though. The 200-meter medley relay of Mike Byron, Yu, Marko and Eric Clement started the meet with a narrow victory over Fremd seniors Shivakumar, Mike Freeman, Caras and Childs.
But Barrington needed some kind of decisive victory in the meet's second half to stem the tide of Vikings victories and never quite got it.
"We were excited to be here," explained Bart, "but I think they were a little more excited."
BG d. Prospect: In the East Division's top meet of the night, Buffalo Grove used a 1-3 finish in the 400 free relay to pull out a 94-92 triumph against Prospect.
The Knights' Charlie Mau won the 200 IM and 100 fly, but BG won the 200 free relay and used a 1-2-3 finish from Matt Block, Matt Conney and Matt O'Rourke in the 500 free to pick up a big chunk of points. Block also won the 200 free for the Bison, and Brad Lotzer won the 100 free.
Winners for the Knights included Joe Lakner in the 100 back and Andrew Bowman in the 100 breaststroke.
Rolling Meadows d. Wheeling: Mustangs senior A.J. Adams won the 100 and 200 freestyles to help Meadows past the Wildcats 111-74.
Palatine d. Hoffman Estates: Dylan Weissman and Sebastian Dorszewski were double individual winners as the Pirates earned their first MSL dual victory of the season.
Weissman won the 50-meter free (27.58) and the 100 fly (1:07.05); Dorszewski won the 100 free (58.16) and the 100 back (1:07.59). Hoffman Estates won both freestyle relays and had a double winner in Keith Brajczewski (200 free, 400 free).