BG's Rodriguez, Conant's Burke make finals
It turns out Buffalo Grove senior Ian Rodriguez and Conant junior Jonathon Burke saved their very best for last.
Both survived and even thrived in the competitive waters at Evanston Township High School on Friday, delivering best times in their races and earning the opportunity to race in today's high school boys swimming state meet championship finals.
Rodriguez lopped 2½ seconds off his previous best in the 200-yard IM to finish in 1:53.19 and grab the sixth and last spot in the finals. He'll also get the chance to race again in the 100 breaststroke, where he qualified 12th in 58.80.
Burke found himself in a great race with New Trier senior Sean Killen in their heat of the 500 freestyle; both ended up making the championship heat. Burke's time of 4:31.76 was a nine-second drop from his sectional effort and the sixth-best qualifying time.
The best news is, he might have a better swim forthcoming.
“I had a lot more left at the end than I thought I would,” said Burke. “That was a surprise — but it felt great.”
In the heat preceding Burke's, New Trier's Reed Malone and Hinsdale Central's Danny Thomson put on quite a show. Thomson, the defending state champ, and Malone went stroke-for-stroke nearly the whole way, with Thomson setting a state record in 4:19.28 and Malone a fingernail behind in 4:19.39. Both times were faster than the state record set just last year by Thomson.
So in today's 500 finals, those two figure to be well in front.
“After them, it'll be a race,” said Conant coach Brian Drenth, who is advising Burke to start his end-of-race finishing kick sooner. “We'll be racing for third.”
Burke's effort provided just the pick-me-up Conant needed. The Cougars' first race, the 200 medley relay, finished 13th — and only the top 12 finishers get the chance to race again.
“I think it took us about two hours to recover from that,” Drenth said. “Jonathon's swim really got us back ‘up.'”
A twist of fate also favored Conant in the next race, the 200 free relay. Two relays that finished ahead of the Cougars were disqualified, which lifted them into the 12th and final qualifying spot. That means Alex Shozda, Martin Pozniak, Alan Wojciechowski and Burke will race again in the consolation heat.
The 200 free relay was also a feel-good moment for Barrington, which had its own issues earlier, also in the medley relay. The foursome of Tommy Clement, Connor Kobida, Kyle Ujiye and Jack Strauss improved from their sectional clocking in the medley but narrowly missed advancing. And Strauss had a very public wardrobe malfunction, as his compression suit ripped.
“My nerves were a little bit jangled after that, for sure,” he said.
Strauss said he didn't feel quite right for his next event, the 50 free, and was disappointed by the result. But he rebounded to finish 11th in the 100 free in a personal-best 46.93. And shortly after that, he anchored the 200 free relay with Ujiye, Sebastian Pekarski and Clement, which finished 10th and will race again today.
“That was my goal coming in here, to race on Saturday,” said Strauss. “So I'll be ready.”
Ujiye was a near-miss to advance in the 100 fly but improved by half a second from his sectional effort in finishing 16th.
Hoffman Estates junior Nick Jessee established a couple of personal bests, finishing 16th in the 100 free (47.21) and 18th in the 200 free (1:43.11), and Maine West's Brian Wasicak got under one minute in the 100 breaststroke for a second straight week, finishing 28th in 59.93.
Buffalo Grove senior Jon Mass will not race again Saturday, but he, too, saved his best for last. He delivered a 20.5 split anchoring the Bison 200 free relay. Not bad for a swimmer who was in the mid-23 range in the same race early this season.
“He's a guy that's been at it for four years, working his tail off the whole time,” said Buffalo Grove coach Jamie Klotz. “All that work was adding up, and it really showed here at the end for him.”
In a truly dominant display, New Trier took command of the team race and is virtually assured of winning the meet for a second straight year.
The Trevians put an exclamation point on their day with a 400 freestyle relay that set a national record — Sam Skinner, Reed Malone, Jack Mangan and Max Grodecki became the first high school team anywhere to break three minutes. They finished in 2:59.76.
If the meet was scored based on Friday's prelims, New Trier would finish with 248 points. That would be the highest total since the 1975 Hinsdale Central team. Naperville North would be second at 147 — a figure which would have won three of the last 10 state meets.