Hersey's depth charge sinks Buffalo Grove

Hersey seized its opportunity on Friday night at Buffalo Grove, assembling a winning effort against the Bison and virtually cementing an unbeaten run through the Mid-Suburban East.

The Huskies' superior depth again made the difference, especially in the 500-yard freestyle, where Jeff Ruffin (5:13.60), Chris Workman (5:23.72) and Jamey Hill (5:33.21) delivered a 1-2-3- sweep.

"We had some really good things happen for us today," said Buffalo Grove coach Jamie Klotz, "but we just couldn't match Hersey's intensity and focus. It came down to us trying to counter what they were doing in the back half of the meet, and we didn't do it. The 500 broke our back."

The 200 free relay, the next event, didn't help either. Hersey's Matt Williams overtook his counterpart from BG on the anchor leg to help the Huskies win in 1:35.68.

And once again, Hersey's consistency was too much to overcome. The Huskies counted only two sixth-place individual finishes.

"What we try to do is take our best swimmers and spread 'em out," said Hersey senior Jimmy Pelican, who provided a key win the 100 backstroke (1:01.32). "That's really helped this team come together."

Sophomore Ian Rodriguez provided an early highlight for Buffalo Grove by winning the 200 IM in a school record 2:01.89. The Bison had several more wins, including Glen Bernard in the 100 free (53.44), Rodriguez in the 100 breaststroke (1:05.11) and both the medley and 400 free relays.

But a 1-3 finish from Ruffin and Workman in the 200 free and a victory from Alex Roznai in the 100 fly (57.21) kept Hersey on track.

And after the meet, when Hersey coach Dick Mortensen pulled his pre-meet race-by-race prediction from his back pocket, the final score matched precisely with the actual outcome.

"I'm just really, really proud of our guys," he said. "We were very focused today, and we needed to be."

Fremd 95, Palatine 91: Visiting Fremd edged host Palatine in a battle of evenly matched teams, needing a victory in the 400-meter freestyle relay from Sean Gonzalez, Tony Rublaitis, Jeff Freund and Dustin Anderson to get the job done.

Palatine's individual victories came from John Giuliano in the 100 fly (1:04.58) and Brad Ferris in the 100 back (1:07.08).

Fremd counted wins from Freund in the 200 free (2:03.52) and 400 free (4:15.24), Rublaitis in the 50 free (25.44), Anderson in the 100 free (54.99), Dennis Kostidis in the 200 IM (2:24.18), Ilya Skvortsov in the 100 breaststroke (1:16.72) and Brandon Trostrud in diving (195.10).

Wheeling 118, Elk Grove 67: Wheeling came up with 1-2-3 finishes in both the 200- and 500-yard freestyles and 2-3-4 finishes in the 100 fly, 100 breaststroke and 100 backstroke on the way to a victory over the visiting Grenadiers.

Elk Grove had double individual winners in Carl Sugihara (50 free, 100 backstroke) and Marek Burtan (100 breaststroke and 100 fly); they also had legs on the winning medley and 200 freestyle relays.

Conant 127, Hoffman Estates 58: The visiting Cougars kept their record perfect in MSL West duals with a decisive win.

Will Landgren (200 free, 100 free) was a double individual winner for Conant, which won every race but the 200 free relay, where Nick Jessee, Sang Han, Paul Organ and Michael Christen won in 1:47.34.