Boys swimming: High anxiety — and achievement — at Barrington

It's customary that before a big event such as a boys swimming state-qualifying meet, the butterflies and nervous knots can stack up deep enough to fill a swimming pool.

And Barrington senior John Lagoni admitted he was fighting that anxiety prior to the Broncos hosting their sectional Saturday.

“I can't over-explain how nervous I and the other guys were before the meet today,” Lagoni said. “The entire atmosphere of sectionals is so different than any other meet beforehand — it just built up a lot of nerves in all of us.”

Clearly, the nerves subsided for the Broncos once they entered their home waters.

It started in the first event for the hosts, and they never slowed down as Barrington captured the team title, finishing with 279 points to edge Mid-Suburban League champ Fremd (276).

Barrington will send two relays and six individuals to state.

“By the end it went from nerves to really exciting,” Lagoni said. “When we got to the 400 relay our coaches told us where we were, and that made us even more excited.”

Lagoni won the 200-yard freestyle in a season-best 1:41.82. To add to that excitement, fellow senior Mitch Gavars also earned a qualifying spot, placing third in 1:43.72. Lagoni also was the lone qualifier in the 100 free, winning in 47.11.

Lagoni and Gavars later teamed up with Colin O'Leary and Sam Burrell to earn a spot at state in the 400 freestyle relay. Barrington dropped nearly 6 seconds from its seed time in finishing second to Fremd in 3:12.22.

“Today I think the boys showed what happens when they work hard throughout the entire season,” said Barrington coach John Valentine. “Last week at conference we gave some of our seniors an extra swim that wouldn't be swimming today in order to put together our best lineup today, and it panned out for us.”

One of the biggest highlights for Barrington came in the 100 backstroke, courtesy O'Leary. The Boston College-bound senior showed why he was the top seed in the event, winning in a pool- and school-record time of 50.69. O'Leary broke the existing school mark from 1990 and the pool mark set by former Olympic gold medalist Matt Grevers of Lake Forest.

“In the backstroke you can semi-peak at the board — which you kind of aren't supposed to do, but I did a few times,” O'Leary said. “But in the end I had zero idea that I was going that fast.”

O'Leary also posted a personal best in winning the 100 butterfly (50.90), and he led off the Broncos' 200 medley relay of Max Gersten, Scott Robinson and Riley Lehmann, which qualified in 1:36.74.

Barrington also figures to add a pair of divers with at-large berths as junior Steven Latimer and senior Harrison Mays finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

Conant senior Cole Aykroid captured the sectional title with a score of 509.25. Aykroid qualified for state last year but missed out on the finals after finishing 19th. The Cougars also have earned an individual qualifier in the pool, as sophomore Justin Lim finished third in the 100 butterfly in 51.91 to earn his spot.

Fremd's main goal was to position itself well for the state meet, and on that level the day was a total success. The Vikes won all three relays and advanced six more individual qualifiers.

Fremd's 200 medley relay looked sharp with Tony Lee, Alex Schillinger, Nick Seroni and Nick Nevins winning in 1:36.31.

The Vikings' 200 freestyle relay team featured Lee, Nevins, Danny Konishi and Arnas Maciunas in a pool-record 1:26.30.

And finally, Fremd's 400 free relay team, featurning the same four from the 200 free relay, swam away from the field in shattering the pool mark held by Barrington with a time of 3:09.45 — better than a 5-second drop from the seed time.

“I feel like we are in an incredible place right now,” said Maciunas, a senior who earned his first individual state qualification in the 200 free (1:44.36). “We have lots of wiggle room to drop even more time. The goal now is to focus on getting as many people through to next Saturday and the finals as we can.”

Individually, Nevins and Schillinger captured sectional victories. Nevins was the lone state qualifier in 50 free, winning in 21.68. Schillinger took top honors in the breaststroke, pulling away comfortably to win in 58.50.

Schillinger also qualified with his second-place finish in the 200 IM. His lifetime best of 1:56.62 was just behind the effort of champion Alex Bartosik of Palatine. A senior, Bartosik is looking forward to a chance at earning a state medal in the IM.

“Going into this sectional was a little different because in the past I have been fully tapered — this time I am not,” said Bartosik who will swim at Tampa next year. “I already had the state time coming in, so this time I was a little on edge.”

Seroni earned a state berth with his second-place swim in the 100 butterfly in a time (51.17) well under the state cut. Vikings junior Zach Mega also looks to be in prime position for a state spot with his runner-up score of 462.15 in diving.

Cary-Grove senior Ethan Hare admitted he was battling the emotional highs and lows that come with sectional qualifying. The highs came early on as Hare dropped over 5 seconds to earn a qualifying mark in the 200 free (1:44.01).

“I was really nervous going into that 200,” Hare said. “I thought going in that was my least likely chance to qualify — so when I got that I just went crazy.”

The highs got even higher as Hare joined teammates Omid Babakhani, Cameron Castro and Kolin Fadden in a state-qualifying and school-record time of 1:27.62.

“It's so cool going down with a relay,” Hare said. “Last year I only went down with a relay. Honestly, it's so nice to go individually, but I would take relays over that any day because it is so much more fun to do it with your friends.”

The only downer for Hare and the Trojans came in the final event — the 400 free relay. The same foursome that qualified in the 200 relay narrowly missed in the 400, despite swimming 3:13.61 and dropping over three seconds from its seed.

Cary-Grove finished third as a team with 175.5 points, with Palatine in fourth at 142.

The Pirates had a pair of individual close calls to state in juniors Jake Klein and Sean O'Brien.

Klein dropped more than 14 seconds from his 500 free effort at the conference meet to place second in 4:46.00, and O'Brien placed second in the 100 backstroke in a lifetime-best 53.95.

Palatine senior Joseph Zhao is a likely state competitor in diving after finishing third with a score of 417.70.