Scouting Northwest sectional meets

Boys swimming and diving sectional previews

When: At all sites today, diving begins at 9 a.m. swimming at 1 p.m.

At stake: Qualification to the state meet, to be held the following weekend at Evanston High School. In diving, sectional champs advance automatically, and the 32 next-best scores from throughout the state also advance. In swimming, sectional champions and any other competitors who better the state time standard advance.

at Stevenson

This grouping features all the Mid-Suburban West teams, plus Buffalo Grove and Rolling Meadows from the East. That's a lot of quality swimming already, but factor in the host Patriots and Cary-Grove and a very fast pool, and this one has all the makings of a memorable sectional.

MSL champion Barrington figures to lead the way among area teams, with junior Greg Alexander (200 IM, 100 breaststroke), sophomore Leo Alexander (200 free, 100 fly), junior Dan Comyn (sprint freestyle) and three state-worthy relays leading the way. The Broncos have steadily improved throughout the season as developing swimmers such as Jake Strauss, Matt Lee, Brendan Lesniak and Tommy Clement showed they're capable of competing at the highest levels.

MSL runner-up Conant's best individual shot at making state is senior standout Ryan Chiero. He's a state meet veteran, but the Cougars also have chances with Will Landgren and Victor Lim as well as the relays. Both Chiero and Landgren will compete in the 50 and 100 freestyles in their individual races while Lim's focusing on the breaststroke; Alan Wojciechowski continues to drop closer to the 100 fly cutoff and the continued development of sprinters Chad Woytus and Palmer Lynch has upgraded the Cougars' relays. Senior John Maevski was among the top divers in the MSL and also has a realistic chance at making state.

Fremd will count on junior Dustin Anderson in the 50 and 100 free, and junior Jeff Freund in the 500 free and 100 fly. An abundance of freestyle sprint speed supplied by senior state meet veteran Sean Gonzalez and Tony Rublaitis figures to make the Vikings' freestyle relays interesting, and freshman Dennis Kostidis will focus on the 200 and 500 freestyles. Breaststrokers James Tokuda and Ilya Skvortsov have steadily improved, and senior divers Brandon Trostrud and Mike Kowalenko finished 1-2 at the MSL meet and hope to both earn a spot at state.

Buffalo Grove sophomore Ian Rodriguez broke the school record in the 100 backstroke at the MSL meet, winning in 54.11. He's also been under the state mark in the 200 IM and will bolster BG's improving medley relay, which features senior Brad Lotzer, who made state in the 100 last season.

Schaumburg coach Tom Gallagher is hoping to keep a long streak of sending at least one individual to the state meet alive with senior Ben Epperly, who last week broke five minutes in the 500 free for the first time and isn't far off the 200 free cut, either.

Palatine doesn't have an individual poised on the edge of qualification, but based on its performance at the MSL meet, expect some serious drops across the board, from individuals and relays.

Rolling Meadows sophomore Artie Checchin is improving by leaps and bounds in the sprint freestyles. Hoffman Estates' Nick Jessee impressed in the 200 free at the MSL meet and has a leg on the Hawks' best relay, the 200 free.

Host Stevenson won the North Suburban Conference meet last weekend and has a quality lineup featuring standouts Josh Hodges (fly) and Adam Salzman (IM). All three Patriots relays are poised to advance.

at Glenbrook North

Prospect enjoyed a terrific day at the Mid-Suburban League meet, as seniors Joe Lakner and Tyler Bengtsen led the way. Lakner had his best 100 backstroke of the year and needs one more sizeable drop to advance in that race; he's also an outside shot to advance in the 100 fly. Bengtsen, true to form, is dropping huge chunks of time every time he races in an effort to return to state in the 100 breaststroke. "With Tyler, we've gone from 'Maybe he can make it to state' to 'hey, maybe he can score points at state,' " said Prospect coach Alfonso Lopez after the MSL meet, where Bengtsen finished in 1:02.94. The Knights could also advance in the 200 medley relay with a superlative performance.

Maine West's Brian Wasicak has been a consistent performer all year and seems well positioned to advance in the 100 breaststroke and perhaps the 200 IM.

Hersey is hoping to shake off a disappointing conference meet and see what kind of drops it can get from standouts such as Alex Roznai (100 fly) and Jeff Ruffin (200 free).

Expect a fast meet, with Glenbrook South setting the pace.

at St. Charles East

Elk Grove sophomore Carl Sugihara has a chance to advance in both the 50 and 100 freestyles, and Marek Burtan's breaststroke has been a bright spot all season. Top teams here will be Marmion and sprinter Matt Pircon, along with Lake Park, and St. Charles East and North.