Boys swimming and diving: Mundelein's Fathallah hoping for more success
With the boys swimming and diving season upon us, Mundelein sophomore Omar Fathallah is looking to pick up right where he left off.
It was last winter as a freshman he came out of nowhere to place 10th in the state finals (46.84) in the 100-yard freestyle. Fathallah also qualified for the 50 freestyle but just missed the cut for the finals.
"That was huge having a freshman with a Saturday swim," said Mustangs coach Rahul Sethna. "He really enjoyed it. It's a different animal than club swimming because of the team aspect."
Last winter, the Mustangs finished second at sectionals, were second in the North Suburban Conference and placed in the top-3 at several invitationals.
"We hope to build on last year's success and place higher in some invites, qualify more to state and hopefully have more Saturday swims," added Sethna. Fathallah is just one swimmer who looks to have a big part in that, especially in relays.
"When you have a sprinter of his caliber at the end of a couple of relays, you know you are never out of the race," Sethna said.
The Mustangs have a nice mix of experience and new faces to lead them this winter. Returning senior Parker Geary is looking to light it up as well on relays and in sprints.
•Speaking of Saturday swims, Stevenson is also used to making waves at the state meet.
Last winter, the Patriots finished as Lake County, North Suburban, and sectional champs before placing eighth at state.
The team lost a bevy of seniors, including four-time state champ Topher Stensby (Notre Dame) as well as a host of other state qualifiers.
"But this team is intent on improving every day, and seeing where that will take us. It's exciting to have so many opportunities for the guys," said fifth-year coach Doug Lillydahl.
"Plus we have several team members who will be looking to shift their focus from state qualifier to state scorer, and I like their chances."
Overall, the Pats graduated 12 seniors.
"We have many fresh faces that are eager for opportunities to reach the top of swimming in Illinois," said Lillydahl. "We are a team facing many lineup questions but the enthusiasm and learning curve of this year's team is impressive, and we have some great returning state meet veterans around to point the way."
State qualifiers Jack Zhang, AJ Carollo, Jake Kim, Jack White, and Josh Song return.
•First-year head coach Jim Pardun takes over at Vernon Hills.
"We return a large percentage of varsity swimmers this year while picking up a couple of freshmen who could very easily make contributions to the varsity team," he said.
The dynamic duo of juniors David and Alex Utsis provide a 1-2 punch while sophomore Arjuna Vimalarajah looks to be a force in the 100 fly and freestyle relays.
Tyler Schuldt will be the top 200 and 500 freestyle swimmer for the Cougars and Caleb Smith will get the job done at the deep end of the pool with diving.
Newcomers Brian Li, Jacob Schifrin, and Remi Boes (water polo) are adjusting nicely to the workouts and will fill in any remaining gaps.
Other swimmers and divers contributing to the varsity squad include Nate Rootberg, Chris Randall, Dennis Zaslavsky, Preston Lis, and Ben Zartler.
The season opens this weekend with most area schools competing in the Patriot relays at Stevenson beginning at noon on Saturday.
"We want to see how we can measure up to the best," added Lillydahl.
Swimmers to watch
Libertyville - Sr. Mark Plunkett, Sr. Andrew Bacilek, Sr. Will Gordon; Sr. Jack Bermingham, Sr. Ben Kistler, Sr. Jonah Armenta Jr. Lawrence Wang, Jr. Mitchell Madland, Jr. Thomas Evans, Jr. Jake Humbert, Jr. Colin McKibben, Jr. Sam Otto, So. Yaseen Tolba, So. Peter Fink; Mundelein - So. Aaron Anastos, So. Omar Fathallah, So. Dominic Fidanze, So. Cameron Gilbert, So. Michael Romero, Jr. Jack Long, Jr. Timmy McInerney, Jr. Danny Oleinik, Jr. Cale Sethna, Sr. Chris Hill, Sr. Parker Geary, Fr. Richard Kudrya, Fr. Edwin Serrano, Fr. David Tatevosian; Stevenson - Sr. Jake Kim (Captain), Sr. Jack Zhang (Captain), Sr. Ari Zatritsky, Sr. AJ Carollo, Jr. Elik Gurovich, Jr. Dima Kobets, Jr. Foster Swanson, Jr. Andrew Thalos, Jr. Gordon Xu, So. Brian Povilus, So. Josh Song, So. Brandon Xiong, So. Jack White, Fr. Lance Bi, Fr. Jack Curtin, Fr. Jonny Farber, Fr. David Kohan, Fr. Kunal Rajadhyax, Fr. Brian Shen, Fr. Danny Silverstein, Fr. Michael Wywrocki; Warren - Sr. Joemil Duka, Sr. Jeremy Gunter, Sr. Jack Foster, Sr. Nathan Weiner, Sr. Spencer Burton (diving), Sr. Wesley Tunnelius (diving), Sr. Diogomaye (BJ) Bamba; Jr. Jarrett Lobitz, Jr. Nathan Heuberger, Jr. Collin Jones, Jr. Jonah Park, Jr. Nicholas Gaetz, Jr. Ethan Harrigan, Jr. Justin Jones, Jr. Dante Rinaldi, Jr. Jarrett Lobitz, So. Evan Berndt, So. Robert Carlson; Vernon Hills - So. Ethan Phua, So. Ben Ravenscraft, So. Arjuna Vimalarajah, Sr. Caleb Smith, Jr. Alex Utsis, Jr. David Utsis, Jr. Tyler Schuldt, Fr. Brian Li, Fr. Jacob Schifrin.