Mundelein strong up and down lineup
The Mundelein boys know their top swimmers can match up with just about anyone.
The big question is, do they have enough depth to win the key dual meets?
If Thursday night is any indication, the Mustangs have a lot to be excited about.
Mundelein rode a strong effort from its entire lineup to a 115-71 victory Thursday over visiting Libertyville. The Mustangs came into the meet full of confidence after winning the Niles West Invite on Saturday.
"One of our weaknesses last year was depth," said Mustangs coach Rahul Sethna.
"We really needed our middle guys to improve, and through two meets they have really done that."
A good example was the way sophomore Bryan Wiener came through in the 100-yard backstroke (1:02.50, second place) and the 100-freestyle (54.05, third).
"He was a good junior varsity swimmer last year, and now he's our top backstroker," Sethna said. "He's improved a lot."
The showcase race turned out to be the 200-yard individual medley. Libertyville's Stevie Wimmer (Kentucky) took the lead, but Mundelein's Pat Falconer (Michigan State) passed him in the first 25 yards of the breaststroke. Falconer held on from there (2:00.04). Wimmer's second-place time (2:01.52) was almost 20 seconds clear of the nearest competitor.
"Stevie's one of the best flyers in the state," Sethna said. "Pat knew he had to stay in contact and push the breaststroke. He had a great race, and it worked out well."
Falconer also placed first in the 100-backstroke (1:00.14). Wimmer (55.03) won the 100-butterfly by more than five seconds, with Mundelein's David Dickinson (1:01.81) the runner-up.
Mundelein junior Will Davidson finished first in the 50-freestyle (23.28) and 100-freestyle (50.64).
Mustangs freshman Connor Black had impressive showings in the 200-freestyle (1:53.04) and the 500-freestyle (5:10.94).
The Mustangs won all three relays, and sophomore Connor Hartnett (178.10) edged Libertyville's Michael Tanner (174.05) in diving.
Sean Falconer (1:10.12) and Nick Mandas (1:13.54) finished second and third, respectively, in the 100-backstroke.
"That was a weak event for us last year and it's turned into a positive," Sethna said.
Libertyville junior Benjamin Snader (1:07.44) captured first place in the 100-breaststroke (1:07.44).
Wildcats senior Chris Marr earned second place in the 100-freestyle (52.87) and the 200-freestyle (1:53.28).
"Chris is battling guys who swim year-round and he's right there with them," said Wildcats coach Kevin Zakrzewski. "You've got to give him credit."
This was far from a banner meet for Libertyville, but Zakrzewski liked the way his team raced.
"Losing is not what we want, but Mundelein gets better each year," he said. "We've been training really hard and they got up and raced. That's what I really care about."