Boys swimming: Groya wins York's first two state swimming championships

If Connor Groya's objective was to leave his mark on York swimming, he accomplished that in deuces on Day Two of the IHSA State boys swimming and diving championships.

Groya, a senior, breezed to York's first two swimming state titles in school history Saturday, taking the top spot in the 50-yard freestyle in 20.27 seconds, then a little while later doubled his pleasure in the 100 freestyle in 44.69, a hair ahead of Rockford East's Camden Taylor (44.86).

Groya was all smiles afterward, wearing a University of Minnesota hat, where he will swim next year.

"I worked so hard for this," Groya said. "It's been an honor to represent York, the school, the West Suburban Conference."

Of the 100 freestyle, where Taylor challenged him the entire way, Groya said, "The 100 is like the 50, just twice as long, and it started to hurt, I'm not going to lie. I'm just so happy I could get the job done."

Mark Laurich is Groya's coach and was justifiably beaming after his races.

"For us, he's one of those rare species because we're not necessarily blessed with a lot of state-caliber swimmers," Laurich said. "We have very talented kids who work hard, but to have Connor on a whole different level, he does so much for the program."

Just like Day One, the championship heat of the 50 freestyle was a veritable who's who of DuPage County boys sprinters. In addition to Groya, Lake Park junior Jacob Drozd took third in 20.62; Hinsdale South senior Will Gallagher was fourth in 20.93; and Hinsdale Central junior Andrew Gilbert was tied for fifth at 20.95 with Loyola's Andrew Lachlan.

"I fixed my turn," Drozd, who slipped on the turn Friday in the 50 free. "It wasn't what I was expecting, but that's OK. I've still got next year. At least it wasn't the last race of my high school career."

One swimmer whose illustrious career did come to an end was Waubonsie Valley senior Arnav Deshpande, who finished second in the 100 backstroke in 48.43, and fifth in the 100 freestyle in 45.37.

Deshpande also raced the opening leg on the meet-opening 200 medley relay, which took fourth in 1:32.89. Ethan Huynh, Nathaniel Jefferson and Sam Lohman joined Deshpande in that effort, which helped the Warriors take ninth as a team with 47 points.

Now that it's all over, what's Deshpande going to remember after he leaves to swim for Carnegie-Mellon?

"I'm going to miss the energy of swim meets, the atmosphere," he said. "I think the best part about high school swimming is how much more you care about how your teammates do. There's nothing like it."

Neuqua Valley got solid swims from senior Aiden Dunn in the 200 freestyle (fourth in 1:39.60) and the 500 freestyle (third in 4:29.51). Sophomore Alex Parkinson took 11th in the latter event in 4:35.94. Dunn, Steffan Anderson, Dima Kondrashev and Ryan Doerrer were eighth in the meet-ending 400 free relay.

Perhaps the biggest DuPage County surprise on Day Two was West Chicago's seventh place finish as a team with 55 points, led by sophomore Brady Johnson, who took third in the 100 backstroke in 48.56 and fifth the 200 individual medley in 1:50.31. Johnson, senior Logan Townsend, senior Gavin McCullough and Mason Smith finished the meet with a sixth-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay in 3:08.30.

"It's a lot bigger than I thought," said Johnson of his first state meet. "It was loud. It was a great experience. I had lots of adrenalin."

Added Townsend, who took eighth in the 200 freestyle in 1:40.76: "Going into the state meet there were a lot of fast kids in the 200 free. I did have a good swim in prelims to place myself eighth and then brought it home."

Metea Valley junior Jaedden Gamilla challenged 200 IM state champion Aleksej Filipovic from St. Charles North, finishing fourth in 1:49.52, just ahead of WeGo's Johnson. Gamilla also took third in the 100 breaststroke in 55.35.

Not a bad day at the office for Gamilla, who broke two school records in the process this weekend.

"I'm glad I was able to turn out like I did," Gamilla said. "I proved to myself I was able to swim as best I could."

With 117.50 points, Hinsdale Central got edged for the team championship by Stevenson (167), but coach Bob Barber's guys put together a bevy of terrific races. The 200 medley relay led off the meet by finishing third in 1:32.22, and later, the 200 freestyle relay finished fourth in 1:24.00.

The Red Devils also got a nice contribution from diver Conor Furlong, who finished ninth with 463.85 points.

"I'm just so happy I was able to contribute, because this is one of the best teams I've ever seen overall in my career at Central," Furlong said. "I was just happy I was able to get a few points."

Downers Grove North was paced by senior Charles Platt, who finished 10th in the 100 freestyle in 46.53, and 11th in the 100 backstroke in 51.16.