Yu, Broncos looking good
After three invitationals in as many weeks, you'd expect Barrington boys swimming coach Jim Bart to know a thing or two about how his team looks in the water.
Bart certainly knows the ins and outs of his Broncos - and what he saw on Saturday was certainly pleasing.
Barrington came through with a 389-354 victory over Byron to win the six-team St. Charles North Invitational.
"We wanted to be consistent from our seed times," Bart said. "And we did pretty well. It was a good day for us."
The St. Charles North Invitational allows five entries per team per event, allowing coaches to mix and match athletes in different events. This gives a swimmer one last time in a multi-team competitive scene to impress before the conference-sectional-state meet sequence that starts in two weeks.
"We do spread it out a little," Bart said. "We can look at things for conference and sectional, and that's what we do. We split some kids between some different events and see how they look as we get ready for the conference meet."
One swimmer who looked in good form was Justin Yu, who won the 200-yard freestyle (1:47.73) and the 100 free (48.51.) Yu also helped the Broncos win the 200 free relay and the 400 free relay.
"We've been working hard, some of us at least," Yu said. "It's nice to see it paying off."
Yu said the fact that training levels are up and the end of season resting process known as tapering has yet to begin doesn't take anything away from an athlete's desire to perform well in competition.
"It's important to know where we are, as of now," Yu said. "I got a best time in the 200 free, and that's exciting. It's always nice to know that you're improving."
Barrington's other event champion was Brian Marko in the 100 butterfly (54.73).
- Darryl Mellema
$CLASS=breakhead$At Downers North
Naperville Central cruised to the title in the seven-team field, as Prospect tied host Downers North for third place and Rolling Meadows took seventh. Highlights for the Knights included a second place by Charlie Mau in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 54.95. The Knights' 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay teams both took third places.