Scouting Mid-Suburban League boys swimming

Scouting Mid-Suburban League swimming

When: 1 p.m. today at Barrington

Team race: Defending champion Barrington expects a great test from Conant, which beat the Broncos in January in the decisive meet to decide the MSL West championship. But the dual meet format might have slightly favored the Cougars, whose extraordinary depth yielded lots of fourth- and fifth-place points. The conference format puts a much heavier weight on to the top two performers, where it’s a more even race between the two teams.

Both Barrington and Conant will field three strong, evenly matched relays. So it may come down to just how well the top swimmers for each team produce. Barrington junior standouts Jack Strauss (sprint freestyles) and Kyle Ujiye (IM, fly) will do plenty of damage, along with sophomore Connor Kobida (breaststroke) and Tommy Clement (backstroke). Conant’s Jonathon Burke figures to set the pace in the distance freestyles, and the Cougars have likely top-six scorers in Alex Shozda (sprints), Martin Pozniak (IM, fly) and Brandon Grzegorek and Matt Nagorzanski (breaststroke). It’s how high Conant’s second swimmers are able to place, relative to Barrington’s, that ultimately could determine the team outcome. “It should be a close meet,” said Conant coach Brian Drenth. “Whoever wants it the most will probably pull it off in the end.”

Buffalo Grove could finish as high as third behind standout senior Ian Rodriguez, by far the top seed in the 200 IM and 100 backstroke, along with Jon Mass (sprints) and Matt Schulstad (fly, breaststroke).

Fremd has been getting good performances from juniors Dennis Kostidis (IM, fly) and Andrew King (sprints) and sophomore Michael Chemello (. Figure the Vikings to be in a competitive battle with Buffalo Grove and Hersey for the third through fifth spots. Hersey’s top guns are senior Alex Roznai and Jamey Hill, but the Huskies have good freestyle depth with Samuel Kim and Mike Kintzle and enough overall lineup strength to do some real damage. Prospect sophomore Nathanael Ginnodo has been improving all season in the 100 breaststroke and is the third-fastest seed in that event.

Hoffman Estates’s Sang Han has been excellent all season in the 50 free and 100 breaststroke, and the Hawks have a proven end-of-season performer in 100/200 freestyler Nick Jessee. Wheeling’s top entrant is Bryce Maczko (sixth in the 200 free); Meadows’ is Artie Checchin (seventh in 50 and 100 free) and Elk Grove’s is Marek Burtan (eighth in 50 free).

— Aaron Gabriel