Fox Valley area swimmers gain experience

Call it a learning experience for a pair of freshman swimmers in Friday's swimming state meet preliminaries at Evanston Township High School.

That South Elgin's Nick Haseman and Cary-Grove's Michael Hamann were competing at all was unusual - of the 600 athletes, only 20 or so were freshmen competing in individual races.

Neither was able to advance into today's finals, which begin at 1 p.m.

Both, however, relished the opportunity to race in the loud, crowded setting.

"On deck, it's just intense," said Haseman, who improved upon his sectional performance in the 200-yard freestyle, dropping about one-half second to finish in 1:44.46 and placing 22nd. "You have all the people in the stands, and you can really feel the energy."

Delivering a peak performance under those conditions generally gets easier over time, and Haseman is looking forward to the opportunity to try again.

"Of course, you want to be at your best every time out," he said after completing the 100 backstroke in 53.31, good for 16th place. "But sometimes you're just not feelin' it."

In Hamann's case, the most important part of his first high school state meet experience might have been last week, where he exceeded expectations and delivered terrific sectional times.

Unfortunately for him, Hamann was the only Cary-Grove swimmer to advance from coach Jim Andriakos' team. And repeating those sectional efforts just wasn't in the cards for him Friday.

"I think we had a couple of obstacles, both physiological and mental," said Andriakos. "This year, for us, he was the only swimmer in the water all week. Then to come in here after having had a full taper the week before, it was a lot to ask."

Still, it was an audacious start to a promising high school career. This year, Hamann broke every single freshman record with the Trojans. He's so versatile that Andriakos said Hamman probably could have qualified in every race in the meet, except perhaps the 50 and 100 freestyles. Next time, he hopes to have some company on deck.

"Sure, that would be great," said Hamann. "You just want to be able to have your guys with you, because this is a great experience."

Hamann finished 29th in the 200 IM at 1:58.98 and 32nd in the 100 backstroke at 55.15.

Another first-time qualifier, Jacobs sophomore Alex Elston, finished 31st in the 100 fly at 53.57.

The swim of the meet came from Peoria Richwoods junior Matt Elliott, who erased a state record that stood for 26 years in the 100 breaststroke. Elliott finished in 55.23, topping Gianni Minnervini's 55.6 set in 1984. It was by far the oldest record on the books, especially after last year's state meet featured incredibly fast performances thanks in part to the buoyant bodysuits in use (they have since been banned).

Neuqua Valley is in charge of the team race with all three relays in the finals and top seed from Grant Betulius in the 100 backstroke and numerous other point-scoring opportunities. Naperville Central, Naperville North and New Trier should also figure prominently in the trophy hunt.

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