Conant homes in on victory at Barrington
Friday’s Mid-Suburban League meet between West Division powers Conant and Barrington was originally scheduled to be held at Conant.
Barrington coach John Valentine proposed that the meet be moved to the Broncos’ fine pool in an effort to take advantage of what everyone knew would be some intense competition between the league’s top two teams.
Conant coach Brian Drenth agreed to the switch for just those reasons, and a good time was had by all.
Maybe a little bit better time was had by the Cougars.
An overall edge in depth and a decisive advantage in the distance freestyle led to a 104-82 decision in favor of Conant, putting the Cougars firmly in control of what will likely be their second MSL West title in the last three seasons.
Two seasons ago, the Cougars surprised the Broncos in their divisional dual. Not this time.
“I think maybe we kind of caught them off guard two years ago at our place,” Drenth said. “This one, I feel like we really deserved it.”
Conant junior Jonathon Burke won the 200-yard freestyle (1:47.04) and was able to also win the 500 free (4:55.55) without expending full energy in that race. That kept him relatively fresh to anchor Conant’s 400 freestyle relay a few races later, and that was key because Barrington anchor Jack Strauss produced a 47.40 split and might have been able to catch a more fatigued Burke.
“Jonathon took one for the team,” Drenth said.
And what a team it is becoming. Alex Shozda won the 50 free in 22.09 and broke Conant’s frosh-soph record in the 100 free with a 47.72. Martin Pozniak won the 200 IM (2:01.17) and took second in the 100 fly (54.22). Alan Wojciechowski had two top-three individual finishes and swam well on the medley and winning 400 free relays.
The Cougars essentially had the meet wrapped up after the breaststroke, where Brandon Grzegorek and Matt Nagorzanski finished 1-2.
“We were nervous coming in here,” said Burke. “We knew we’d have to really compete well to win, but I think we did that. We have a really competitive team, and everyone’s working hard in practice — that’s showing up on the scoreboard now.”
There were plenty of bright spots for Barrington, too. Kyle Ujiye produced a lifetime best in winning the 100 fly (52.11) and had terrific lead-off legs on the 200 and 400 freestyle relays; he also had the fly leg of the winning medley relay featuring Strauss, Connor Kobida and Sebastian Piekarski.
Senior Nolan Presymk impressed with a dominant diving performance (239.90) and Tommy Clement won a tight race in the 100 backstroke (58.01).
“To me, Kyle Ujiye is our swimmer of the meet,” said Valentine. “Kyle just really does not like to lose.”
But, as Valentine noted, a 1-2-3 sweep by Conant in the 500 free and a 1-2 Cougars finish in the breaststroke was too much to overcome.
“Losing a meet like this isn’t fun,” said Valentine. “But I was telling our guys, it’s really not about the outcome of this meet — it’s what you do with that outcome, how you use it to improve yourself.”
And on that note, don’t miss this same dual next season. The majority of the key varsity performers on Friday were sophomores and juniors.
Buffalo Grove d. Wheeling: Ian Rodriguez and Matt Schulstad won a pair of individual races apiece and had legs on the winning medley relay as BG closed in on the East Division championship with a 120-66 victory. Bryce Maczko and Mike Boom produced a 1-2 finish for the host Wildcats in the 200 free.