Boys swimming preview / Northwest

Barrington - Coach John Valentine, a familiar name and face on the Barrington swimming scene, takes over the boys' program for Jim Bart, and he has an intriguing mix of both proven performers and young, promising swimmers. Individual state qualifier Greg Alexander is the top returner; sprinter Dan Comyn and freestyler Leo Hayden are also back from last year's excellent team, which will miss quality standouts such as Justin Yu, Eric Clement, Brian Marko and Mike Byron. The varsity team will have 22 swimmers, including seniors Chris Cogswell, Mike Hoynoski, Kyle Kim, Brendan Lesniak, Matt Mayer, Kellen O'Conner and Sam Wolf. It also figures to be a young group, with four freshmen - James Rodney, Jack Strauss, Kyle Ujiaye and Chris Vega - making the team. Valentine, who has been an assistant in the high school program as well as coaching with Barrington Swim Club and the Barrington Masters team, has a new assistant in frosh-soph coach Sarah Fornero; Mary O'Donnell is back to coach a promising diving bunch that features six members. "The Barrington Fillies swimmers set a fast past this year," said Valentine of the team's ninth-place finish in the state meet. "We'll have to work very hard to succeed as well."

Buffalo Grove - There've been some choppy waters for the Bison, as senior Brad Lotzer, an individual state meet qualifier last year in the 100 and 200 free, broke an ankle in gym class about a month ago. He's already has had surgery and has been able to resume training, but this certainly wasn't how coach Jamie Klotz had hoped to begin his defense of the Mid-Suburban East title. The Bison lost a quarter of proven, reliable seniors to graduation (Adrian Sadkowski, Matt Cooney, Kevin Reilly, Matt Block) but also have some veterans returning - sophomore Ian Rodriguez (200 IM, 100 back) is showing great potential, Klotz is counting on seniors Glen Bernard, Dan Strieve and Kirill Goldin and junior distance man Matt O'Rourke has added strength and endurance through training. "I guess the story will be who steps up into their roles and wants to continue the strong tradition we have at Buffalo Grove," said Klotz. Of his team's chances this year, Klotz says, " It will be a challenge, but one that is achievable, to mold them into a good competitive unit to defend the East Division title and race the likes of the West teams."

Conant - It's a competitive scene for the Cougars this season. Ryan Chiero qualified for the state meet last year in the 50 and 100 freestyles and is excited about having a strong senior season, and Will Landgren has rejoined the team after taking a year off to train for the Deaf Olympics, which were held in September in Taipei. With a deep group of seniors including Matt Ebert, Anton Andonov, Victor Lim, Dan Bernacki, Steve Siska and Jake Gfesser, Conant has solid numbers at the top. Juniors Ryan Brushaber, Graham Champion, Brandon Chic, Jerry Flowers, Palmer Lynch, Rohan Rao, Zack Sikat and Chad Woytus are facing challenges from what coach Brian Drenth calls an "extremely talented" underclass group, which includes sophs Brandon Grzegorek, Matt Nagorzanski, Mike Walsh, Alan Wojciechowski, and David Wollschlager and frosh Jason Brushaber, Jonathan Burke, Adrian Lisowski, Takuma Tanabe, and Zon Wang. "We have a lot of young talent to mix with our veteran swimmers this season," Drenth said. "I look forward to some great competitions, some great times and a very successful sectional meet as we try to send 3 relays and a handful of individuals to the state meet in February."

Elk Grove - Coach Scott Gustafson's program has been showing both better numbers and quality in recent seasons, and that trend seems likely to continue. Junior Carl Sugihara was a near miss for the state meet in two individual events last season (100 back, 50 free), and the Grenadiers also had a couple of relays very close to the state cut. Sophomore Mark Burton (fly, breaststroke) made big gains in the off-season and seems poised for a breakthrough year, and another bright spot will be senior diver Kyle Carlson. "We are definitely loaded with sophomore and juniors," said Gustafson, "and having our own pool here has really helped the program, in so many ways."

Fremd - If numbers always equated to victories, Fremd would be assured of many wins this season. Coach Nicole LaBeau is overseeing some 80 swimmers and divers, with the help of three new assistant coaches (Kristin McCoy, Mike Slowik and Emily Heiser). The Vikings lost several stellar swimmers and divers to graduation (Sam Childs, Varun Shivakumar, Evan Ruggiero among them) but the hope is that a developing team with internal competition can produce great gains. Returning in key roles are state qualifiers Jeff Freund (distance, fly), Dustin Anderson (sprints), Sean Gonzalez (freestyles) as well as standout diver Brandon Trostud. Others expected to have an impact are diver Mike Kowalenko and Mike Zhou, who is back with the team after competing last year with Palatine's Park District team. Providing depth will be juniors Ray Scheid and Phil Schroeder, sophomore Ian Assman and freshman distance swimmer Dennis Kostidis. "Most of all, I am impressed and very proud of how hard all the guys are working this year to be better and stronger, not just 'for a spot,' " said LaBeau. "And they are really helping one another, across the board, with team elements as well as swimming elements."

Hoffman Estates - Though the Hawks did not qualify entrants to the state meet last winter, coach Josh Schumacher saw steady performances and good end-of-season time drops.

Leyden - The Eagles return nine seniors, and three of them - Bobby Michalowski (50 free, 100 breast) Donny Gisseler (100 back, butterfly, 100 free) and Jon Souchet (50 free, 100 fly) all have an outside chance of making it to the state meet, according to coach Chuck Skrabacz. The junior class' main contributors figure to be Pawel Wierzchowiec (100 breast, 100 free), Adrian Stolecki (200 IM, 100 breast) and Paul Schmidt (diver).

Maine West - Coach Ryan Claus begins his 10th season with the team. The Warriors qualified one swimmer to last year's state meet, senior John Poelking.

Palatine - Coach Ed Richardson returns to lead the boys team one last time before leaving Palatine as a coach, and since he's new to the boys' job, it may take a while before his athletes find their roles. There is proven ability in returning swimmers Brad Ferris, John Giuliano, Dan Sommerfeld, Jeremy Stanton, Dylan Weissmann, Kamil Mulawa, Trevor Leonard and Greg Bell, and in diver Steve Repking. "We have a bunch of guys who are working hard and may make a name for themselves farther into the season," Richardson said. "Right now we are trying to improve both personally and team-wise so that we have a better season than last year."

Prospect - Things have come full circle at Prospect, which this year will be coached by alum Alfonso Lopez (he was in charge of St. Viator's boys team last season). The Knights have close to 40 swimmers on the roster, including returning state qualifier Tyler Bengtsen (breaststroke, sprints) and Joe Lakner (backstroke). Other top seniors include Eric Oplan, Ed Martin and Erik Holcomb (distance); Mike McPartlin, Dominic Scardina and Dave Fairburn are still more seniors who figure to make regular contributions. The junior class features Ryan Konieczka (springs, backstroke), Brian Kugler, Piotr Szoepe and diver Adam Pascolini. The Knights also have promising freshmen in Andrew Younger, Liam Hansen and Marc Pontello.

Rolling Meadows - The Mustangs are trying to replace a terrific group of aquatically oriented seniors who produced great success in both swimming and water polo. Coach Monika Chiappetta still has plenty to look forward to this winter. Sophomore Artie Checchin could be an individual state meet candidate by season's end, and seniors Danny Briggs, Damion Fitzsimon and Matt Slivovsky figure to provide both ability and leadership. Other key figures are juniors Johnny Putz, Sam Schmid and Benson Busse and sophomores Kevin Fitzsimons and Patrick Waterloo. Best of all, there's real promise for the future. "The under level team looks so good, and huge time trial improvements," Chiappetta says. "It is a rebuilding year that looks to be promising with big time drops for everyone."

Schaumburg - Coach Tom Gallagher lost a memorable group of seniors after last season (Chris Corbett, Aaron Johnson, Mike Kehoe, Anthony Darovec) who set three school records, but he's eager to see how their standard-setting season will influence this year's team. The Saxon's best chances at state qualification are Brandon Kase (sprints) and Ben Epperly (distance), who Gallagher describes as a "workhorse." The Saxons have had at least one individual state qualifier in every season since 1979, and Gallagher hopes to keep that streak alive. "The team should now know what it takes to be successful in the pool in terms of hard work and maintaining a positive attitude toward attacking workouts aggresively," he said. "We are very, very young and we will work relentlessly until the taper meets."

St. Viator - Mary Ruffin is beginning her first season with the team. Last season, under coach Alfonso Lopez, the Lions made solid gains across the board.

Wheeling - Coach Tod Schwager's group missed out on dual meet victories last season but has much reason to be positive entering this season. The Wildcats are hoping to finish as high as third in the MSL East behind returning contributors Tim McDaniels, Dmitriy Peresada, Kyle Jensen, Tom Echeverri, Scott Lunardini, Joe McGuire, Jaron Witt, Mike Boom, Nick Modlin, Shane McDade and Chris Prelletz and promising underclassman Dan Shriber.