MSL boys swimming meet preview
Diving: 6 p.m. Friday at Barrington
Swimming: 11 a.m. Saturday at Barrington
Background: For the first time, the regular-season dual meets between MSL foes have no bearing on determining the league champion. Instead, final placement in the conference meet alone will determine the final standings in the league. Fremd is the only unbeaten team in the league in duals, having edged Barrington in early December. Buffalo Grove was tops in the East, thanks to a 1-point victory over Prospect, also in early December.
To start with: The diving championship is tonight at Barrington, and there's plenty of quality at the top. At least five divers - Evan Ruggiero (Fremd), Tim Karsten (Barrington), Pat Chamberlain (Hersey), Nick Rizza (Conant) and Ian McNair (Palatine) figure to have legitimate shot at winning. All have reliably scored above 200 for 6 dives; consistency will have a big say in who is able to come out on top over 11 dives.
Time to race: The MSL meet marks the first of three consecutive weekends where times should begin to improve for the swimmers, who are just starting to ease up on their daily workload in preparation for state qualifying at next weekend's sectional, and the state meet at New Trier the following weekend. All of the MSL West teams will return to Barrington one week after the conference meet for a very competitive sectional meet.
Team picture: With a strong group of proven seniors at Fremd such as Varun Shivakumar, Sam Childs, Sean Carroo and Mike Freeman and strong support from both the junior and sophomore classes, the Vikings will be tough to beat. They feature enough sprint freestyle depth with competitors like Dustin Anderson, Sean Gonzalez, Brent Caras that it's tough for other teams to match up. But Barrington has has a strong second half from flexible senior standouts Justin Yu and Brian Marko, and the Broncos have also had improving sprint times from Dan Comyn and Eric Clement, which has helped dramatically with their relays. Barrington figures to pick up important points from swimmers such as Gregg Alexander (IM, breaststroke) and Leo Hayden and Zak Fischer (distance freestyle) - just how high those three finish will have a big say in how the Broncos ultimately fare.
Prospect and returning state qualifiers Charlie Mau, Andrew Bowman and Tyler Bengtsen would like to see if they can edge BG, but the Bison have shown steady improvement across the board in leaders like Adrian Sadkowski even since an early dual win over the Knights. Schaumburg seniors Chris Corbett (IM, backstroke, freestyle) and Aaron Johnson (breaststroke) figure to challenge for victories in their individual races, and Conant's Ryan Chiero is a threat to excel in anything he swims. Elk Grove freshman Carl Sugihara has produced a time capable of winning the 50 free (22.35) and he'll likely be in the championship picture in the 100 backstroke, too. Rolling Meadows senior A.J. Adams has had an impressive second half of the season and ought to help the Mustangs pick up significant points.
Don't miss: The 100 backstroke. It would be a blast to see athletes like Shivakumar, Corbett, Marko and Sugihara going at it. And there's a large enough group right behind them, with times in the 57s, that an exceptional effort from one of them could really make a difference in the meet.