Leafblad's final performance highlights Warren's win

This has not been the senior season Warren's Jono Leafblad imagined.

Senior night, though, was an evening that will be embedded in his memory.

Leafblad, who shut himself down before the start of winter-break training, returned to the water for the 200-yard freestyle relay in Thursday's dual meet against visiting Mundelein.

Leablad's relay placed third in what turned out to be a satisfying 100.5-85.5 victory for Warren.

His teammates were thrilled to see Leafblad, an all-conference swimmer as a junior, back in the water where he belonged.

"That was the best thing that happened," said senior Kurtis Schultz, who was first in the 100-butterfly (58.25). "He brought up the momentum of the whole team."0A

Leafblad said he was pretty sick by winter break and it was determined his athletic-induced asthma was acting up. He was told the best thing for his longer-term plans, which include swimming in college, was to heal naturally by taking the rest of the season off.

About 90 minutes before Thursday's meet started, Leafblad asked coach Andrew Kittrell if he could swim one relay event for the junior varsity.

He was pleasantly surprised by Kittrell's response.

"It was pretty sweet," Leafblad said. "He told me I was a varsity swimmer and asked me what event I wanted to swim."

Leafblad said this was his last foray into the water this season. He will continue to attend most practices and meets, with an eye toward working with the younger swimmers.

"I'll look at their technique and help out however I can," he said.

Freshmen twins Danny Conway and Sean Conway don't need much help. Conway was first in the 200-individual medley (2:04.96) and the 500-freestyle (4:53.96) Sean Conway finished second in the 50-freestyle (23.57) and third in the 100-freestyle (51.16).

Warren sophomore Sage Stephens recorded a personal-best total of 210.60 points to win the diving competition. Mundelein's Connor Hartnett (175.85) was second. This was the first time Stephens had scored better than 200 points.

Stephens received three scores of 6.5 on his inward 11/2.

"I knew I nailed it as soon as I hit the water," he said.

Mundelein ended the meet on an exciting note when junior Patrick Falconer made up ground in the anchor leg of 400-freestyle relay. Falconer and teammates Will Davidson, Sean Trinka and Michael Begrowicz (3:28.41) ended up winning by almost a full second.

Falconer also won his two individual events with times of 48.99 in the 100-freestyle and 1:44.71 in the 200-freestyle. Davidson was first in the 50-freestyle (22.72) and second in the 100-freestyle (51.04).

Senior Sean Trinka placed first in the 100-backstroke (1:00.79) and finished second in the 100-butterfly (59.50). Begrowicz was second in both the 200-freestyle (1:53.63) and 500-freestyle (5:14.47).

"Both of them are having really good seasons," coach Rahul Sethna said. "They've put a lot into leading the team."

Sethna said he anticipated a tough meet.

"We had some really good swims and there were just a couple of events where we lost some points," he said. "I knew we would have to make up some ground in certain places and gain a point here and there."

Kittrell, in his first year at Warren, is grateful for the way his seniors, Schultz, Leafblad, Angel Cabrera, Chris Chibucos and Mike Malinowski, have helped ease his transition. He was excited with the way they performed in their last meet.

"They were supportive of me from the first day and you can't ask for more than that," he said. "We had a lot of energy tonight and it's always a treat when you go out at home with a bang."