Boys swimming and diving: Fremd's Mears, Barrington shine at MSL meet
When it comes right down to it, in swim meets, divers are definitely on a different schedule.
The diving event usually starts early, around 9 a.m. while the rest of the competition - 11 swims - begin in the afternoon.
That can sometimes lead to a disconnect between the two, but not for Fremd junior diver Ben Mears.
"He's a great kid," said Vikings diving coach Donna O'Brien. "He's one of our captains, and he understands what it means to be on a team. He's always out cheering the swimmers on and he wants to see them do well."
Saturday at the Mid-Suburban League boys swimming championship at Elk Grove, Mears set a school record to win the diving event, on a day where the team race was dominated by Barrington.
The Broncos won five events overall to capture the MSL title.
"Ben is very focused, and he sets his own goals for himself daily in practice," added O'Brien. "I don't know many kids who do that on their own, but he's just so motivated."
Mears won with a score of 474.70.
"I'm thrilled about this," said O'Brien. "He's really strong, he has very clean lines and goes into the water very nice, and he's consistent which is key. It's a pleasure to coach him and I feel very fortunate."
For the champion Broncos, Griffin O'Leary led the way with victories in the 100 fly (49.67) and the 100 back (48.73).
Barrington also won the 200 medley relay (O'Leary, Lucas Bucaro, Adam Gaffney and Rylan Anselm) and the 400 free relay (O'Leary, Anselm, Gaffney and Dylan Guo).
Anselm, a sophomore, took the 500 free as well in the time of 4:41.55, while Bucaro finished second at 4:43.17.
"The boys swam well," said Broncos coach John Valentine. "Anytime you get kids that go 1-2 in the 500, in the 440s (Anselm and Bucaro), that's really exceptional. They set the tone."
Valentine was also impressed with the performance of Dylan Guo, a senior.
"I thought this was the best meet of his career," said the coach, "and he's set a nice example for his brother, Will, who is a freshman on our team and also helped us tremendously today."
Barrington's winning mark was 236 points. Prospect finished runner-up at 189.5, Fremd was third with a 172, and Rolling Meadows (142 points) was fourth.
Tim Hays of the Knights (1:54.67) won the 200 IM (Anselm of the Broncos took second), Szymon Mieczkowski from Schaumburg finished first in the 200 free at 1:44.26, while Bryce Loeger of Conant (21.57) was the winner of the 50 free.
Edgar Rutkauskas of Buffalo Grove won the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:01.74, and the BG 200 free relay team of Rutkauskas, Athan Rodrigues, Nikita Yakimento and Luke Czeryba finished in a first-place dead heat with the Rolling Meadows foursome of Jeremy Leigh, Russell Mathews, Emanuel Anguelov and Kacper Pancerz.
"Edgar is super talented," said Bison coach Tom Cooney of Rutkauskas. "He's got a nice technique, he's a really hard worker, he's got goals and he knows what to do to achieve those goals."
Andrew Tonkovic of Prospect (48.63) triumphed in the 100 free, while RM's Anguelov, just a freshman, added to his big day by taking second, just .40 behind at 49.03.
"He is just an incredible kid, and he loves to race," said Mustangs coach Monika Chiappetta of Anguelov. "I can't wait to see what he's capable of. It's cool to see how hungry he is to learn, and that makes him a gift to coach. He's pretty pumped about the way he swam today, and I also want to give props to Kacper (Pancerz), who crushed our school record in the 500 today by almost five seconds."