St. Charles N. confident after sectional win
Fans who attend this coming weekend's boys swimming state meet at Evanston Township High School might purchase a meet program or a T-shirt as a souvenir of their experience.
The St. Charles North team has a little bigger souvenir in mind.
After winning their own sectional Saturday by eight points, 285-277, over crosstown rival St. Charles East, confidence was high that the North Stars are in a good position to win their first boys swimming state trophy in school history.
“It's been a goal all year. It's been a goal for many years,” said North senior Joey Chokran, a team captain. “We've worked toward it. Hopefully, this year we'll get it done.”
However, St. Charles North, which finished fifth in state last season, will have company when it comes to wanting and being in the running for top 3 finish hardware.
“We're in the hunt,” said North Stars coach Rob Rooney. “There's New Trier (defending state champ), Naperville North, us, Warren, Loyola. Naperville Central always has a great program.”
The North Stars qualified all three relays and in five individual events. Three St. Charles North swimmers qualified or won two individual events each and helped relays advance.
Chokran anchored the 200-yard medley relay, qualified in the 200 individual medley and won the 100 breaststroke.
Junior Kyle Gannon anchored the winning 200 freestyle relay, qualified in the 200 freestyle, won the 500 freestyle and was on the winning 400 freestyle relay.
Junior Spencer Gray will swim the 200 IM and 500 freestyle at Evanston. He was also part of the qualifying 200 medley relay.
Senior Chris Dieter heads to state in the 200 freestyle, he won the 100 freestyle, helped the 200 freestyle relay qualify and anchored the victorious 400 freestyle group.
“Our main strategy was simply to swim fast. Going into the meet, we were happy with our times,” Dieter said. He was fourth in the 200 freestyle and sixth in the 100 freestyle at state in 2011.
St. Charles East is sending a diver, swimmers in four individual events and all three relays to Evanston.
“We got a good group in. We were looking for a little more, but I'm optimistic about our prospects,” said St. Charles East coach Joe Cabel.
The swimmer who had the biggest day for the Saints was senior Shaun Seuschek, who won the 200 IM and the 100 butterfly and helped the 200 freestyle and 200 medley relays advance.
“I was happy with my times (in the individual races). Both were faster than last year,” he said. “I swam really well at conference and that got me going and everyone did well here today and that got me going.”
St. Charles East junior Max Schmitt won the diving competition held Saturday morning.
Geneva senior Joe Hollman was typical of the individual swimmers who represented schools that don't have teams. He qualified in the 200 freestyle.
“Actually my seed times had been getting slower. But the time that you have when you are done here is all that matters,” he said. “The first two years I went to state was to get experience. This year, I'm out there to have fun. Normally, I swim club (St. Charles Swim Club) and I do high school for fun.”
South Elgin heads to state in four individual events thanks to two swimmers. Junior Nick Hasemann started the day winning the 200 freestyle and later the 100 backstroke.
“I was excited to be here and look forward to next week,” said Hasemann, who was sixth in the 100 backstroke at state last season. “I'm definitely aiming for top six. I'm going to swim my best. That's all I can do. I'm going to have fun.”
Teammate Alex Duffy, a sophomore, qualified in the 200 IM and 100 butterfly.
“I'm very happy with what I did. I felt pretty confident going in. I thought I could do well going in,” he said.
Glenbard North senior Andrew Homere changed strategy in his last attempt at trying to get to state for the first time. He was sectional champ in the 50 freestyle.
“I had terrible sectional meets the last three years. I didn't take this one as seriously,” he said. Homere was DuPage Valley Conference champ in the 50 freestyle.
“I felt good today. I had a solid conference meet. There are still a couple of things I can still tweak, but I feel pretty confident,” he said.