Black, Conway in fine form at Lake County Invite
Actors say it to each other all the time, right before a performance:
“Break a leg.”
It, oddly, means good luck because actors think it is bad luck to say, “Good luck,” to another actor.
Mundelein junior swimmer Connor Black broke a leg last summer — without anybody telling him to do so.
And he wasn’t about to hit a theater’s stage.
“I was doing a dry-land exercise,” Black recalled at Saturday’s Lake County Invite at Stevenson. “I was jumping over another guy, while he was doing push-ups.
“Broke the end of a fibula,” he added.
All Warren senior Danny Conway did Saturday was break two pool records (200-yard IM, 500 freestyle) and serve as a sturdy leg on a pool-record-setting relay (200 medley).
“Conway destroyed everybody (in the 200 IM),” said Stevenson senior Steven McKee, who was in the 200 IM, but as an entrant in the heat before Conway’s heat.
Conway sped to a pool mark of 1:54.08 in the 200 IM, more than 10 seconds faster than McKee’s runner-up time (2:04.1), after leading off for the Blue Devils’ victorious 200 medley unit (1:36.16; senior Chad Church, junior Matt Conway and senior Sean Conway swam the other legs).
Sean is Danny’s twin; Matt is the twins’ younger brother.
Purdue-bound Danny Conway later overwhelmed the 500 free field in a pool-record 4:34.42.
“I’m not worried at all about Danny peaking early,” said Warren coach Chris Bertana.
A late race Saturday (actually the last one, 400 free relay) was the best one. Stevenson’s quartet of seniors Langston Fitts, Daniel Shtivelberg, Chris Hodges and Ryota Kuwahara edged Warren junior Matthew Sweet and the Conway trio 3:13.20-3:13.26 for first place.
Stevenson’s foursome led when Kuwahara, the Patriots’ anchor, entered the pool.
But Matt Conway nearly caught up to Kuwahara in a riveting final 100 yards.
“That got me going, knowing he was getting close,” said Kuwahara.
It got the crowd — and practically everybody on deck — going, as well.
“The place exploded as those two finished,” Bertana said. “That was fun, so much fun, to watch.”
Stevenson, essentially, had already taken care of the serious business before the start of the 400 free relay. It established a fairly comfortable lead atop the team standings.
Coach Greg Hartman’s Pats ended up scoring 274.5 points to successfully defend their title.
Runner-up Warren, victorious in six events, tallied 234.
Barrington (191), Lake Forest (181.5), Mundelein (174) and Libertyville (133.5) finished 3-4-5-6.
“We don’t have that guy, that one guy, who carries us on his shoulders,” said Hartman. “But we also don’t have a weak link.”
Mundelein’s Black, all healed up after that tough summer break, had a strong meet, touching first in the 50 free (21.2) and 100 free (46.32) and motoring as leg No. 1 for the Mustangs’ winning 200 free relay (1:27.73).
Mundelein senior Bryan Wiener swam a cigarette-boat-fast 20.66 anchor split, after 50-yard legs from senior Matt Marcotte and sophomore Art Kasemets.
Wiener also silvered in the 50 free (21.67) and 100 backstroke (52.15) on Saturday.
He wasn’t a 50-free guy last winter.
Neither was Black, state runner-up in the 100 butterfly last winter.
“When we saw what Connor did last year at state, as our lead-off guy (21.1 split) in the 200 free relay, we thought, ‘Wait a minute … the 50 free would be a good race for him,” recalled Mustangs coach Rahul Sethna.
“And, with (Wiener),” he added, “we had him swimming three late events last season. We wanted him to swim an early (50 free) event; he likes his new event.”
On Friday, in a Mid-Suburban League West dual, Barrington coach John Valentine allowed most of his Broncos to swim in “off” events. Sophomore Connor Kobida, a standout breaststroker, raced in the 500 free against Palatine; junior Kyle Ujiiye, a swift butterflyer, pulled his frame in the 100 backstroke.
“It gets a little old sometimes, swimming in the same events meet after meet,” said Ujiiye. “I’m glad our coach let us do that. Plus I wanted to save myself for the fly (on Saturday).”
Ujiiye took second (52.39) to Matt Conway (51.09) in the fly on Saturday.
Kobida (1:02.95) took second to Warren’s Church (1:00.27) in the 100 breaststroke on Saturday.
Lake Forest junior Peter Grumhaus won the 200 free (1:43.54); Matt Conway clocked a first-place 52.03 in the 100 back; and Vernon Hills junior Alex Zuniga amassed 395.85 points to win the morning’s diving segment.
Or 3 points shy of John Mueller’s school mark, set in 2007.
“Alex,” said Cougars diving coach Toni Pastorino, “was composed, confident. He had a great meet; he exceeded my expectations.”
Added VH swim coach Adam Lueken: “He’s so powerful and … so graceful.”
Runner-up James Lichtenstein, of Stevenson, scored 371 points, two days after setting his school’s pool record for six dives (255.05).
Libertyville received third-place efforts Saturday from sophomore Alex Snarski (100 fly, 53.6) and freshman Matthew Harrington (100 free, 49.25).
Other notable individual results: Kuwahara (2nd place, 200 free, 1:46.32); Fitts (2nd, 100 free, 48.0); Grumhaus (2nd, 500 free, 4:41.37); Barrington’s Nolan Presmyk (3rd, diving, 357.1); Barrington’s Jack Strauss (3rd, 200 free, 1:48.59); Sweet (3rd, 200 IM, 2:04.16; 3rd-place tie, 100 breast, 1:03.13);Church (3rd, 50 free, 21.79); LF’s Bogdan Balteanu (3rd-place tie, 100 breast, 1:03.13); Hodges (3rd, 500 free, 4:53.32); and LF’s Bryan Bunning (3rd, 100 back, 53.71).
“Good times, good competition,” summed Hartman. “Fast … This was such a fast meet. And what an exciting, thrilling finish. I never doubted, for a second, that (Kuwahara) would stay ahead in that final leg of the 400 free relay.”