Hamann, Hasemann get two more races apiece
It was a step in the right direction for Cary-Grove junior Michael Hamann in Friday's boys swimming high school state meet preliminaries.
Hamman, in his third straight appearance in the championships, earned the opportunity to compete in both his individual races in today's consolation finals at Evanston Township High School.
That's progress, but as coach Rick Schaefer explained, the day's events left Hamann and the Trojans wanting more.
“We swam great at conference, and last week at sectional — best times for everybody,” Schaefer. “So today was a bit of a disappointment from that standpoint.”
Then again, it might be a considered a victory for Cary-Grove to be a player at all on swimming's state stage. With no pool of its own, the program does most of its training at the Health Bridge Fitness Center in Cary. That's been a great improvement, but with one important footnote: the pool doesn't have starting blocks, so fine-tuning in preparation for championship season wasn't easy.
Hamann had the ninth-fastest qualifying time in both the 200-yard IM (1:54.42) and the 100 backstroke (52.31). He had legs on both Cary-Grove relays — the 200 medley with Ryan Hamilton, Joe Weber and Jon Curtis; the 400 free relay with Andrew Brierton, Tyler King and Curtis. The medley finished 16th and the free relay 21st.
“This is arguably the best team in our program's history,” said Schaefer. “But our situation with the pool is a challenge, there's no doubt about it.”
Another area junior, South Elgin's Nick Hasemann, will join Hamann as a participant today. His prelim time in the 200 free was just a fraction of a second slower than his top-qualifying time at sectional, but in an extremely deep event, that dropped him all the way to ninth. His second race of the day, the 100 backstroke, turned out much better — a full second faster than sectional at 51.47, and the sixth-best time of the day. That puts him in the championship heat.
Jacobs senior Alex Elston will conclude his high school swimming career in the consolation heat of the 100 fly, where he qualified ninth at 50.62.
The Golden Eagles' 200 medley relay of Alex Reinbrecht, Josh DeDina, Elston and Ryne Quinlan finished 18th, and their 200 free relay of John Jost, DeDina, Quinlan and Elston placed 19th.
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.
Earlier, Malone had a terrific duel with Hinsdale Central's Danny Thomson in their qualifying heat of the 500 freestyle. 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.