Results mixed on opening day
Six-lane pool with choppy water? No more space-age swimsuit technology? Nothing seems to slow down Illinois' high school swimmers, who scorched the water at Evanston on one of the fastest days in boys' swimming history.
The pacesetters were certainly New Trier, poised to win their record 22nd IHSA title with a larger point total than any champion since 1975.
Naperville North positioned itself to claim second place while a dogfight will settle third place, with Warren leading that chase as the teams gather at the Wildkits' pool this afternoon at 1 p.m. for the finals in all 12 events.
Local teams had a decidedly mixed evening. St. Charles North's trophy charge never gained traction, though the North Stars have plenty to cheer about on Saturday, especially with Kyle Gannon swimming for the state title in the 500-yard freestyle and in the consolation heat with teammate Chris Dieter in the 200 freestyle.
“I hate to say it, but I really don't care about anybody else in the pool except what my kids are doing,” St. Charles North coach Rob Rooney said. “It's great for the other teams and what they're doing. But I'm caring about my team and what they're doing.”
St. Charles North also qualified its 200 freestyle relay and 400 freestyle relay for the consolation races in each event.
“We've got swims going on tomorrow and that's a positive thing,” Rooney said. “Some of the great things we've been doing in practice these last few weeks and through the season, we kind of forgot today. We've got to make some adjustments for (Saturday.)”
Rooney said having Saturday's swims will be important in the team's hunt for its highest possible placing.
“We didn't do our turns very well, we didn't do our exchanges as well as we have in practice and it definitely cost us,” Rooney said.
Gannon's performance stood as definite highlights, however.
“Kyle definitely had the swim of the meet for us today,” Rooney said. “He came in and stood tall and did things the way they were supposed to be done.”
St. Charles East has Shaun Seuschek swimming for the state title in the 200 individual medley and in the consolation heat of the 100 butterfly.
“He's kind of reversed it,” St. Charles East coach Joe Cabel said. “We thought he'd be Top 6 in the fly and hope he'd get into the IM and he's Top 6 in the IM and he just squeaked in for the fly. So you just never can tell.”
Seuschek dropped 2 seconds from his sectional time to swim 1:53.01 in the IM, where he is seeded fourth. The top seed is New Trier's Reed Malone, who swam 1:48.37 on Friday. Seuschek's time was over 2 seconds from third-seeded Nick Bessler from Naperville North.
“That was just a real smooth swim,” Cabel said. “He might have a little left in the tank. I think he might have taken it out a little too easy. He's in a good place to be.”
Cabel said that even though Alec Carnell did not advance in the 100 freestyle and the Saints' two qualifying relays did not advance, the experience was beneficial. The heat, noise and excitement of the IHSA state meet is unique, and there is no way to understand what the meet is like except to experience it.
“(Carnell) dropped time, which was good to see,” Cabel said. “We're close in our relays. It's a fast meet, a great meet. It's the fastest one I've seen in a long time, maybe the fastest one I've seen. Today, a couple of tenths of a second made the difference between being in and not. That always happens in an event or two. But today, it was every event.”
Carnell returns next year, as do relay swimmers Thomas Bindseil, Taylor Nunnery and Nick Watts.
“We hope we're hardening the steel a little bit,” Cabel said. “You've got to come in here and know you're going to go faster. You've just got to know it and believe that you can make it happen.”
Marmion advanced one of its seven entries to swim on Saturday when the 400 freestyle relay won its heat and qualified for the consolation heat. Cadets coach Bill Schalz was among those marveling at the overall speed of the athletes in the water. The meet featured a state record from Hinsdale Central's Danny Thomson in the 500 freestyle and a national record from New Trier's 400 freestyle relay — the first team in the event to break 3:00 when it swam 2:59.76.
“Our medley relay would have scored in any other state meet,” Marmion coach Bill Schalz said. “We've talked in the past that the meet is getting faster. But there have been some unbelievable swims today.”
Marmion had its share of swimmers such as Josh Kanute, John Thielen, Mike Burke and Jack Fergus who can build on this weekend's experience.
“We've had across the board best times all day,” Schalz said. “We've been getting solid time drops. But this meet is so fast and so deep that while we're swimming well, we're making a couple of mistakes here and there. And when you make those mistakes, you don't come back.”