Scouting Cook and Lake County boys swimming

Here's a look at what to expect this winter for Cook and Lake County boys swimming teams.

BARRINGTON

The Broncos boast two of the top swimmers in the state.

Senior Rylan Anselm, who will swim at Penn State, placed fourth in the state in the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle.

Notre Dame recruit Lucas Bucaro, a junior, placed sixth in the 200 IM and sixth in the 500 freestyle.

The Broncos, who were champions of the Mid Suburban League a year ago, placed second at the Barrington sectional and eighth in the state with 40 points.

Coach Alex Mikolajweski will also count on senior Adam Gaffney, sophomores Will Pinchot, Luke Keller, Eric Ding and Payton Cotner, and freshman Quinn Bennett.

"We want to advance as many swimmers to day two," said the Barrington coach.

BUFFALO GROVE

The Bison, 39th in the state, fourth in the Barrington sectional, and seventh in the rugged MSL, return state qualifiers senior Edgar Rutkasikas and junior Michael Surowienic.

Buffalo Grove graduated Holden Wheeler (George Washington) and Luke Czeryba (Carthage), Beckham Cordell, Tucker Dombroski and Nikita Yakimento.

Experience for the Bison also comes from seniors Xavier Lipani, Matt Olaru, Alex Padowski and Jon Watt along with junior Nolan Smith and sophomores Nick Shomali, Dave Olaru, Nate Lipani and Emmanuel Gavrilos.

"We want to be competitive in dual meets and fight for the MSL championship," said coach Thomas Cooney. "We want to qualify multiple individuals to state."

CONANT

The Cougars' top returner is senior Bryce Loeger, who is a 3-time state qualifier and finished eighth in the state in the 50 freestyle and 12th in the 100 backstroke.

Conant, fifth in the MSL, fourth in the sectionals and 36th in the state, return juniors Yimmy Caicedo, Marcel Komeza, Alex Seeman, Jayden Tu, Kailey Visitacion, Carl Wang and Ayden Woo along with sophomore Dominik Kurek.

"The guys put the time in the water and weight room," said coach Brian Drenth. "We are mentally and physically ready for the season. We want to finish near the top of the MSL and we want to end the season on a great note in the sectionals and state. Last season left the guys hungry. We are focused with hard work and are ready for great success."

ELK GROVE

Coach Keith Kura's troops, 12th in the MSL a year ago, return seniors Miles Nenkov, Daniel Bochenek and Daniel Franke along with juniors Anthony Reyes, Leu Cabanayan and Jackson Barton.

FREMD

The Vikings' top returnee is senior Jaden Heinlein, who was third in the 100 backstroke and 13th in the 200 IM.

Fremd must replace diver Ben Mears, who was 11th in the state along with Kurt Pennell, Andrew Di and Aurelian Laffant.

Joining Heinlein as returning competitors are seniors Kyler Bingel and Nathan Hession along with junior Tyler Frankel and sophomores Marcus Witkowski, Andrew Hessburg and Varun Ramesh.

"We are setting goals for the sectional and state," said coach Andrew Adams. "We want to have our best season yet. We want to score some points at the state meet and build a family (atmosphere)."

HOFFMAN ESTATES

The Hawks led by fifth-year coach Adam Longo, must replace Leo Ramirez-Guitterez, now at Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

Hoffman Estates returns juniors Shane Cantwell, Alex Morel, Danny Lopez, Sam Jonen and Matija Hedesi along with senior David Keil.

"We want to build team culture and get as fast as we can," said Longo.

MAINE SOUTH

Experienced might be the best word to describe the 2023-24 Maine South boys swimming team.

Led by senior Dom Mazurek, the Hawks return 14 swimmers from last year's team which finished fifth in the state with 68 points.

Mazurek enjoyed an outstanding junior campaign with a third-place effort in the 200 IM and fourth in the 100 freestyle. Mazurek is seeking a fourth straight appearance at the state meet.

Coach Don Kura must replace graduated seniors Bart Kubis (John Carroll), Ljubomir Popovic (Carnegie Melon) and Zach Chapalov.

Joining Mazurek as state qualifiers back are Sam Sacor, Max Fedorenko, Dragos Cozma, Dani Marsenic, Graham Arteta and Caleb Larkin.

Other returners are seniors Jack Conway and Mason Par along with juniors Sean Forrest, Ben Przekota, Brenden Donocon, Reed Kuczura and Daniel Ormanov.

"New Trier (second in state) is a deep and talented team and is (the) favorite in the CSL South," said Kura. "There are no easy meets in the conference. Five of the top 17 teams in the state came from the CSL. We need to get healthy and build on last year's fifth-place finish in the state."

MUNDELEIN

The Mustangs must replace graduated seniors Edwin Serrano, Matt Willis, Dave Tatevosian, Ethan Trankalov and Johnny Anno.

Coach Rahul Sethna returns a veteran group spearheaded by seniors Alec Stehna, Jacob Hall, Zach Gonzalez and Mike McMurray, and juniors Trey Halas, Tori Kharpak, John Gorsica, Xavier Hilgart and Jeff Tieman along with sophomores Cameron Wikland, and Shehan Chandrasekara.

Mundelein was third in the North Suburban League and seventh in sectionals last year.

"Stevenson is the class of the conference and Lake Forest has a solid team with a lot of seniors," Sethna said. "The battle for third is between us, Libertyville and Warren. We have a young team and we want to compete in dual meets and invitationals. We want to be swimming our best and diving our best in February."

PALATINE

The Pirates hope to improve on an eighth-place MSL finish and seventh place effort in the sectional.

Experienced swimmers include senior Kris Sculz, juniors Nick Maslowski and Jackson Highline, and sophomores Kyle Carlson and Sam Piazza.

"We hope to build on the success we had in the past," said coach Kathryn Mroz. "We take pride in our aquatics family. We have a competitive group who pushes each other every single day. We have a lot of fun personalities. It makes even the hardest of days enjoyable."

SCHAUMBURG

Saxons second-year coach Sam Gabriel boasts one of the top swimmers in the state in senior Szymon Mieczowski, who was second in the backstroke at last year's state meet. He was 10th in the 200 freestyle for the Saxons, who were sixth in the MSL, fifth in the sectionals and 22nd at state.

Dennis Bobiv returns as a state qualifier.

Gabriel must replace graduated seniors Otto Kowalski, James Monroe, Daniel Bartlett, Tim Dombroski, Pat Dima and Andrew Georgescu.

"We are looking forward to another exciting season." said the Saxons' second-year coach. "We want to continue to climb in the conference and we have an eye on increasing our presence at the state meet."

STEVENSON

The Patriots enjoyed an outstanding 2022-2023 season finishing third in the state with 122.50 points.

Hoping to move up two spots at the state meet, Doug Lillydahl's swimmers must replace five solid performers now at college. Johnny Farber and David Kohan are at Boston University while Michael Wywrocki (Cornell) and Jack Curtin (Dennison) are also competing at the collegiate level. Danny Silverstein (sixth in diving) is at the University of Illinois.

Senior Colin Zhang placed fifth at the 200 IM and sixth in the 100 breaststroke. Senior Diego Roasrio Fuentes placed eighth in the 100 butterfly.

Other returning state qualifiers for the Pats are seniors Olin Kusevskis and Liam Plautz, and juniors Sirui Wang and Findlay Oyston.

Returners looking to contribute are juniors Jared Carollo, Maxim Kolabunov, Tim Rhee and Felix Wang along with sophomores Kyler Chou and Josh Wang.

"Ww want to finish in the top five in the state and be the team to beat in the conference," Lillydahl said. "Mundelein, Lake Forest and Libertyville are all solid teams."

Lillydahl said defending champion Hinsdale Central, New Trier, Naperville Central, Waubonsie Valley and Maine South are among the top teams in the state.

ST. VIATOR

The Rams, under the guidance of first-year coach Zach Miller, return seniors Evan Collins, Ben Chapin, Joaquin Ignacion and sophomore Tim Dillon.

Newcomer Marcus Montesciaros is hoping to make an immediate impact.

"Ww want to grow St. Viator's program and show improvement with achievable goals," said Miller. "We want to achieve new heights in all facets, We are ready for a great season."

VERNON HILLS

The Cougars, who must replace state qualifier Jacob Schifrin, return qualifiers senior Edward Zhae and juniors Daniel Berke and Will Rendell.

Vernon Hills, third in the Central Suburban North a year ago, boast experienced swimmers seniors Eli Spivak, Aidan Kamai, Andrew Laborevitch, Charlie Karston and Edgar Chan along with junior Sammy Ryniec.

"We want to win the North and see how things shake out once we get closer to the championship season in February," said coach Jim Pardun. "We want qualify at least two relays and multiple swimmers as individuals."

WARREN

Coach Kim Lobitz returns senior Bill Lawing and juniors Sam Foster and Evan DeVito.

Newcomers trying to make a splash in their initial high school season are freshmen Reed and Nate Thiemyer.

"We want to qualify multiple individual and relays to state," said Lobitz. "We have a relatively young team. We want to have a stronger presence at the larger invitationals. We look forward to the season."