Forward-thinking Warren tops Vernon Hills
June 25, 2012.
Where will you be then?
Warren senior swimmer Danny Conway and his brother, junior Matt Conway, will be in Omaha, Neb., sharing chlorinated water with some guy named Michael Phelps, a fairly decent swimmer.
All three, and other pool darts, will race for spots on the U.S. Olympic men's swim team.
But the Conway brothers, plus their Blue Devils teammates, had another date in mind at their home natatorium Thursday night, when they battled Vernon Hills.
The date: Jan. 31, 2012.
Warren hosts Stevenson then, for its senior night.
And for the regular season championship of the North Suburban Conference.
“It'll be a really good meet; the guys are pumped up for it already,” Warren coach Chris Bertana said after his crew won 11 of 12 events and topped VH 138-48.
Warren edged Stevenson 94-92 in an early dual last winter. But Stevenson beat Warren 312-305 for the NSC Meet title in February.
Both squads ended up sharing the overall conference championship.
“We're looking forward to that dual, no doubt,” said Blue Devils junior captain Luke Hassemer, who led off Thursday's victorious 200-yard medley relay (1:45.71; Matthew Sweet, Chad Church and Ashwin Sanzgiri swam the other legs).
“All out … we're going to give it everything we've got.”
Vernon Hills junior diver Alex Zuniga prevented Warren from winning every event Thursday night. The reigning Lake County Invite champ scored a meet-best 221.6 points, ahead of senior teammate, and runner-up, Nathan Lightman (198.05).
“Tonight,” VH coach Adam Lueken said, “we were shooting for JV records more than anything else.”
His boys shot quite well: Five JV school marks fell, including all three relay standards. Freshman Rob Williams swam on a pair of relays (200 medley, 400 free) and clocked JV-record times in the 500 free (5:41.24) and 100 breaststroke (1:14.07).
Cougars freshmen Conrad Kocoj and Nathan McAdams and sophomores Danny Strohl and Sean Pinter also churned in relays.
“Warren's guys,” said Lueken, shifting to varsity thoughts, “have outstanding work ethics, especially when it comes to what they do in the off-season. Such hard workers, all of them.”
Matt Conway touched first in the 100 butterfly (52.55) and 100 backstroke (56.41) and anchored the winning 400 free relay (3:28.48) that also included Jonathan Sweet, Matthew Sweet and Church; Danny Conway easily won the 200 IM (1:56.93) and beat mate Matthew Sweet 1:02.18-1:03.71 to top the 100 breaststroke field.
Sean Conway, Danny's twin, also excelled at the school's O'Plaine Road campus, motoring to first place in the 50 free (22.84) and anchoring – after legs from Church, Keenan Gagliardo and Ashwin – the triumphant 200 free relay (1:32.03).
“The plan tonight was to get out there, swim through the tiredness,” Bertana said. “We also played around, a little, with stroke technique and race strategies. Another intent we had was to swim a strong lineup, because Vernon Hills deserved that respect.
“Our team,” he added, “swam with class.”
Other first-place efforts from Warren, now 5-0 in the NSC: Austin Salisbury (200 free, 1:53.31); Church (100 free, 49.5), the meet's lone 4-for-4 boy; and Garrett Zenner (500 free, 5:18.76).
“It's that time of the season when you have to swim tired, to get a good base for your taper,” said Danny Conway, who will compete in the 400 IM at this summer's U.S. Olympic Trials in the Cornhusker State.
“Many of us worked on technique, here and there. But we also wanted to have some fun, while being tired.”
Warren vs. Stevenson, on Tuesday.
Should be fun.
And highly competitive.