Boys swimming: Record-setting day as Stevenson prevails at county meet
It was a record-setting day Saturday at the Lake County boys swimming championship invite, hosted by Stevenson.
Numerous county (invitational) marks were broken, but the two that stood out came from Griffin O'Leary of Barrington and Jack White from the Patriots.
O'Leary and White each set invite and pool records, O'Leary in the 100 backstroke (time of 48.67) and White in the diving competition (score of 537.05).
Stevenson, ranked No. 1 in the state, won the team race with 492 points. The Broncos finished second with a score of 287, while Mundelein (272) was third.
"Our mission here was to put up some very competitive times, and we accomplished that today," said Stevenson coach Doug Lillydahl.
Prior to the meet, Lillydahl had indicated how much his team looks forward to this invitational.
"The timing of this meet is perfect because we get a gauge on how our early season training is going, and where our times are going into the holiday break," he said.
Omar Fathallah of Mundelein won the 50 free (21.17) and the 100 free (45.97).
"We were all prepared for today, and we're really happy knowing that we're going to have a full season," said Fathallah, who has committed to swim at IUPUI in Indianapolis in the fall.
"Last year was a mystery," added the senior, who finished in the top 12 in both the 50 and 100 in the state finals two years ago as a sophomore.
"We were all set for sectionals last season - we knew we weren't going to get a state tournament - but we were ready for sectionals, and that got shut down. Now we're super-excited, and this year actually we've been moved to the Stevenson sectional. So we were really hyped to go up against all these fast swimmers that we saw today. We're a new team and relatively young this year. We're only going to graduate a couple of seniors, and the goal for us seniors is to build the line for the rest of the team for the coming years."
Colin Zhang of Stevenson won the 200 individual medley in the time of 1:54.89 and was victorious as well in the 100 breaststroke (57.68), while O'Leary of the Broncos triumphed in the 100 fly with a 49.81.
In the relays, Stevenson's team of Jack Curtin, Josh Song, Jonny Farber and David Kohan took the 200 free; the Patriots won the 200 medley as well, behind Brandon Xiong, Zhang, Song, and Curtin.
It turned out to be a clean sweep in the relay events for Stevenson as it took victory in the 400 free also, with the team of Xiong, Kohan, Zhang and Farber.
Prominent runner-up showings Saturday came from Blake Vander-Jeugdt of Warren, second in the dive (484.5); Ryan Anselm from Barrington, No. in the 200 free (146.64); and Lucas Buccaro of the Broncos, second in the IM (1:58.92).
Other second-place finishes of note came from Stevenson's Song in the 100 back (Edward Zhao of Vernon Hills was third), Aaron Anastos from Mundelein in the 50 free, and David Badarch of the Patriots in the 100 breaststroke.
Jonny Farber of Stevenson won the 200 free (1:44.06) and was second in the 100 free.
"Jonny is just an inspiring guy to work with," said Lillydahl of the junior. "He's made a big step forward this year in his preparation, and we've seen great results."
Farber said that on his 200 win Saturday that, "I tried to go out a little bit slow, and come back a lot faster to see where my endurance is at.
"This was our first invite, and this was great practice for us because these teams are going to be in our sectional meet."