Boys swimming: Hinsdale Central races away with title at St. Charles
Winning eight of 12 events, defending state champion Hinsdale Central was impressive in claiming top honors at Saturday's St. Charles Invitational on Saturday with 384 points.
Barrington, ninth at the state meet a year ago, was second with 343 points in the meet held at St. Charles East.
"We had a really good day," said Red Devils coach Bob Barber. "We had a lot of efficient races. I like where we are at. We don't want to look behind.“
Nojus Bertulis paced the Devils with first-place efforts in the 50 freestyle (21.36) and 100 butterfly (51.35).
Nate Harris, a Wisconsin recruit, won the 200 IM with a clocking of 1:56.43.
"I have really been pushing since September," said Harris. "I am trying to stay healthy. We realized last week that New Trier has a lot of firepower. We need to keep pushing in practice.“
Other winners for Hinsdale Central were Henry Guo (100 freestyle, 47.20), Luke Vatev (200 freestyle, 42.49) and Josh Bey (100 breaststroke, 58.70).
The Red Devils won two of three relays. With Jeffrey Hou, Guo, Bey and Harris, Hinsdale Central won the 200 medley in 1:35.25 and the Devils capped the day with a win in the 400 freestyle (Vatev, Bertulis, Brody Marcet, Noah Pelinkovic) with a time of 3:08.84.
Barrington, who was a solid second, got a first-place finish from Penn State recruit Rylan Anselm who won the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:38.74.
"I was really focused," said Anselm. "I want to keep getting better."
Anselm's teammate Lucas Bucaro won the 100 backstroke in a time of 51.50.
"Lucas and Rylan set the tone for this team," said Broncos coach Alex Mikolajewski. "They are great leaders with great attitudes. They are very focused."
St. Charles East, fourth with 278 points, took the top two spots in the 1-meter diving. Jake Scalise (460.45 points) placed first followed by Jamie Heuser with 383.60 points.
Senior Kyle Algrim, a Virginia Tech recruit, was the top Saint in the swimming competition taking third in the 200 freestyle and fourth in the 500 freestyle.
St. Charles East, with Algrim, Clancy Windle, Chris Souk and Ben Stevens, took third in the 200 freestyle relay.
"We swam well today," said St. Charles East coach Adam Musial. "We have a strong core of seniors led by our captains Kyle (Algrim), Ben (Stevens) and Chris (Souk). This meet is a great measuring stick for us."
St. Charles North was fifth with 237 points.
The North Stars' top swimmer was senior William Duetmeyer, a Binghampton recruit.
The North senior was second in the 100 freestyle and was part of the runner-up 200 medley relay team with Thomas McMillan, Brady Nightlinger and Matt Stratton.
Duetmeyer, Nightlinger, McMillan and Walker Hornstrom were second in the 200 freestyle relay.
"This was obviously great competition today," said Duetmeyer. “We are now getting ready for conference, sectional and the state meet."
St. Charles North coach Rob Rooney likes the improvement of Duetmeyer.
"William has been excelling the last few weeks," said Rooney. “This was very good competition today. We now transition to conference and sectional."