Conant extends its season to dye for
It’s become tradition at Conant for all the boys swimmers to do something creative with their hair before the invitational meet the Cougars host in late January, which is always their final home meet of the year.
Which explains the variety of bleached blondes strutting their stuff on deck.
The ritual seems especially fitting this season, for Conant is truly having a season to dye for.
A class of 19 seniors gave their final performance in Conant’s pool Saturday and made sure it was a winning effort.
In a flighted meet that rewards overall depth, the Cougars won with 306 points, ahead of Mundelein (216), Maine South (175), Downers Grove North (174), Jacobs (122) and University High (72).
It’s not unusual for Conant to win this meet, owing to its general strength in team depth from year to year. Coach Brian Drenth said he thought it was the third or fourth year in a row his group had taken top honors.
But to win by that margin, and against a team with returning state-meet finalists such as Mundelein’s Connor Black, says a lot about how special this Conant team is.
“Brian always seem to have depth,” said Mundelein coach Rahul Sethna. “He’s got that depth again this year, but he’s also got legitimate top-end guys. That makes them one of the top teams around, both in terms of duals and championship. I’m happy for him.”
Junior Jonathon Burke was a double individual winner for Conant, in the 200-meter free (1:58.42) and the 400 free (4:11.94), and Martin Pozniak won the 200 IM (2:16.00). The only other victory in the top flight for the Cougars was the 400 free relay of Burke, Martin Pozniak, Alan Wojciechowski and Alex Shozda (3:42.48).
“It’s kind of a perfect storm for us this year,” said Drenth, whose team wrapped up an unbeaten run through the Mid-Suburban West with a victory at Palatine on Friday. “Finishing up here at home like this, it’s special for our guys. When you have as many seniors as we do, it really makes a difference.”
Shozda opted not to dye his hair but was still easily spotted — he’d shaved his last name into his hair, and finished second in both the 50 and 100 freestyles.
“It’s just an incredible group of guys,” said Wojciechowski, a senior. “We all get along great, and everybody is having fun. We feel like we have a team that can really achieve some great stuff at the end of the year, and we’re all looking forward to that.”
Mundelein, too, is expecting big things. Junior standout Connor Black led the way for his team Saturday with victories in the 50 free (24.18) and 100 fly (57.23) as well as legs on the winning 200 medley and 200 free relays; Bryan Wiener won the 100 free (53.66) and 100 back (59.31) and also had legs on the relays.
The Mustangs have a terrific opportunity to score significant points at the state meet with Black, Wiener and strong relays featuring those two plus Art Kasemets, Matt Marcotte and Max Goin.
“Bryan is kind of our poster child for what we we’re trying do,” said Sethna. “We really don’t get a lot of club swimmers in our high school program, so we need to be constantly developing. Bryan is one of those guys that’s really come a long way. He was 15th in the state last year in the 100 back, and he’s already been about 52-flat this year, so he’s in a good spot.”
Sethna said he was looking forward to the short course meters pool at Conant; it’s the only time his group will compete in that setting this season.
“We looked at like it was an opportunity to just come and race — not worry about time so much, but focus on our breakouts, starts and turns,” Sethna said.
With strong championship teams such as Warren and Stevenson regularly competing against Mundelein in the North Suburban Conference, Sethna said it’s important for his group to stay focused on the real end of the season — the state meet.
“That’s what we want every swimmer in our program to aspire to,” he said.
Jacobs coach Rick Andresen says his team this year probably makes the top five, in terms of talent, that he’s coached in an illustrious career.
Junior standout Josh DeDina won the 100 breast in 1:09.72 and placed second in the 200 IM. Senior Alex Elston, who finished 12th in the 100 fly at last year’s state meet, was second to Black in that race and took third in the 50 free. And Alex Reinbrecht placed second behind Burke in both distance freestyles.
But the format of the meet did not favor the numbers-challenged Eagles, and Andresen expects a similar challenge at the Fox Valley Conference meet in two weeks.
“Cary-Grove has better depth than us, but my guys are really working hard,” Andresen said. “We had really good training over the holidays — I really pushed them. Then we had a nice meet last weekend (at the St. Charles East college events meet). We’re just about where we need to be at this point of the season.”