Barrington overcomes fatigue to capture invite

If you look at a high school boys swimmers these days, you are sure to see signs of exhaustion. Even on-deck at meets, they don't have that spring in their step any more. Day after day of 10,000-plus yards of training will do that to you.

But then those same boys stand on the starting blocks, and they don't seem so tired any more. Is there some magic that happens when the starter raises his or her hand?

"It's difficult to get up and do a race, especially right after doing a relay," Barrington's Greg Alexander said at the end of Saturday's St. Charles North Invitational. "There's definitely a different mental state. I'd say my competitive drive overtakes however tired I am. That's probably what keeps me going."

Alexander and his teammates won this year's invitational at St. Charles North by scoring 635 points, 200 points better than second-place Libertyville.

"Our boys showed a lot of character today," said Barrington coach John Valentine. "They had some pretty good competition today. We had three of four best times in individual events, which is good considering how tired they are."

Alexander swam legs on two winning Barrington relays and also took first in the 100-yard breaststroke.

"I'm definitely looking forward to the postseason, to see how much my time drops," Alexander said. "I hope to make my state cuts and see what happens at state."

The Broncos' Leo Hayden won the 200-free and Dan Comyn took the 50-free. The Broncos added firsts in the 200-medley relay and the 200-freestyle relay.

"Character shows itself in different ways," Valentine said. "What I saw today was some guys who were very tired giving 100 percent effort. That's the character that I'm looking for."

St. Charles North sophomore Joey Chokran has been a competitive swimmer, but he is going though the rigors of the high school season for the first time. He and his North Stars teammates finished third,

"I dropped time and everything," Chokran said. "That was good. But it's how the team does in general, not so much about me."

Chokran finished seventh in the 200-individual medley and was seventh in the 100-breaststroke. The North Stars' invitational is one of the last large meets of the season. There are two weeks before conference meets and many teams have a dual meet or two before concentrating on postseason preparation.

"I'm so tired right now," Chokran said. "I did the 100 breast and went straight into the 400 free relay and then did the warm-down set. It's a lot at the end of the meet."

Even though the yardage will remain high for another few weeks, the end of the season is closer than the start - and the athletes can feel it.

"This all translates into the taper," Chokran said. "It helps at the end."

St. Charles North's lone event-winner was sophomore Chris Dieter, who took the 500-freestyle - part of a 1-2-3 North Stars sweep that included Kyle Gannon and Spencer Gray.

"This is our meet and it being our meet puts some pride into us," Dieter said. "That made us really want to swim."

Dieter admitted that he doesn't feel anything but ready to race when he stands on a starting block.

"It's incredible," Dieter said. "You get up there and you see the kids next to you and a switch comes on in your brain and you're like 'I'm going to get that guy.' 'I'm going to get that time;' 'I'm going to win that race' - whatever it takes."