Stevenson bests Warren in NSC showdown
Warren senior swimmer Sean Conway, a future engineering major at St. Louis University, didn’t get too technical when he described what a Billiken looks like after Warren’s dual with visiting Stevenson on Tuesday night.
Athletes at SLU are called Billikens.
Conway plans to be a fast one, a wet one.
“A Billiken,” Conway said, “is an elf. And if you look really closely at SLU’s mascot, it looks like the Grinch.”
The green meanie, with the dinky heart, attempted to steal Christmas and ruin the holiday for all those warm-hearted Whos in Whoville.
Who rules among boys swimming and diving teams in the North Suburban Conference?
Stevenson’s Patriots, that’s who.
The Pats, on the Blue Devils’ senior night in Gurnee, won only four of 12 events Tuesday but beat Warren 101-85 for the NSC regular-season championship.
Stevenson finished 6-0 in the NSC; Warren went 5-1.
The schools shared last year’s overall NSC championship.
“The amount of respect we have for Warren showed in how hard we swam in every event, even after we started to pull away,” said Stevenson coach Greg Hartman.
“You cannot take Warren lightly.”
Mostly because Warren is Conway-heavy: brothers Sean, Danny and Matt Conway combined for four first-place finishes in individual races and all three swam – with senior Chad Church — on the victorious 200-yard medley (1:38.19) and 400 free (3:15.31) relays.
Purdue-bound Danny Conway clocked a ridiculously fast 1:53.06 in the 200 IM.
The school-record time ranks No. 1 in the state this winter – by nearly two seconds.
Matt Conway, a competitive-to-the-bone junior, touched first in the 100 butterfly (51.22) and 100 backstroke (53.34).
“I’ll take a loss like this, with the way we swam tonight,” Blue Devils coach Chris Bertana said.
Warren led the showdown by 4 points after four events.
But Stevenson took control in Event 5, diving, by getting a 1-2-3 finish from James Lichtenstein (212.1), Max Kontorovich (178.4) and Blake Ripes (174.15).
The Pats entered Event 6 (100 butterfly) with a 6-point advantage.
Stevenson senior Langston Fitts sped to a first-place 47.7 in the 100 free and led off the winning 200 free relay (1:31.35; with classmates Chris Hodges, Ryota Kuwahara and Daniel Shtivelberg).
Kuwahara, nicknamed “Yota,” was a force in the 200 free, besting the field in 1:47.05.
“(Kuwahara) was, without a doubt, our swimmer of the meet,” Hartman said. “He is, in a way, our silent assassin … quiet and tough.
“Our team is deep, certainly, but it’s also a team that fights for everything, refuses to lose.”
Warren’s Church, ill and about “70 percent healthy,” won two events (50 free, 22.1; 100 breast, 1:01.2) and went 4-for-4 in an NSC dual for the second time in six days.
Danny Conway, Sean’s twin, overwhelmed the 500 free with a 4:35.6.
“Danny and Matt (Conway) get a lot of credit for the success of Warren’s team, and they deserve every bit of it,” Hartman said. “But Sean Conway – that guy is their unsung hero, based on what I saw today.
“A top-five team at state needs a Sean Conway-type,” he added. “Warren has what it takes to be such a team at state.”
Stevenson has depth … Grand Canyon depth.
“Stevenson,” Sean Conway said, “has so many good guys, so many good swimmers.”
Warren’s JV squad finished 6-0 in the NSC after topping Stevenson 97-89 Tuesday night.