Boys swimming: St. Charles East enjoys sweet victory at Barrington

St. Charles East swimming coach Adam Musial introduced a sweet reward system to his Saints this winter.

Swim fast in practice, receive a candy mint.

Complete an off-event, receive a candy mint.

Set a PR, receive a candy mint.

“About half our swimmers are brand-new to the sport, which is a grueling one,” Musial said at Saturday’s Bronco Relays at Barrington. “I’d read on Instagram about ways to have fun while motivating swimmers. I counted the number of mints that come in a bag — 110.

“I’m already on my third bag this season.”

Coming to a store’s candy aisle near you: Musial stocking up. His Saints enjoyed a yummy afternoon, capturing the meet’s White division title with 116 points behind four event championships.

St. Charles East senior captain Joaquin Negro joined Dean Bellizzi, Clancy Windle and Garrett Mruk to win the 300-yard butterfly relay in 2:50.91.

“We love it,” Negro said of racing for edible in-house medals. “It’s a great idea. We lost 12 seniors to graduation and returned only two swimmers to varsity, which is insane. The mints taste great.

“Sure, I have to pick up more than a few stray wrappers after meets, but that’s all good.”

Lyons Township, helmed by former Buffalo Grove standout Erin Rodriguez, won the Red division convincingly, tallying 148 points to runner-up Barrington’s 120. Naperville North took third (90), followed by Naperville Central (89) and Waubonsie Valley (57).

In the White, runner-up Lake Park (113) finished only 3 points behind St. Charles East. Fenwick (111), Rockford Guilford (44) and Saint Viator (19) went 3-4-5.

Barrington junior Luke Keller swam four relay legs Saturday and left his team’s natatorium as a four-time winner. A distance freestyler and breaststroker, Keller swam the final 500 yards of the 850 crescendo freestyle relay (7:54.28) following laps from Andrew Verone (50 yards), Will Pinchot (100) and Eric Ding (200).

“Fun meet, loud meet,” said Keller, a water polo goalkeeper in the spring. “I’d never started a relay with a 500-free start.”

Keller also helped the Broncos’ 400 medley, 800 free and 300 yard breaststroke relays post victorious times of 3:42.58, 7:16.86 and 3:06.42, respectively.

“Good times,” said Barrington coach Alex Mikolajewski, whose top swimmer, Notre Dame-bound senior and six-time state medalist Luke Bucaro, competed at a junior national meet in Texas on Saturday. “Our supporting cast members stepped up. Everybody did really well and the best they could.”

Lake Park opened its season on Saturday after practicing for weeks in Streamwood’s pool, which is located a 35-minute bus ride from the Lancers’ pool-less school in Roselle.

“The trip each day is an opportunity to bond before each practice,” said LP junior Matthew Karasek, who touched 11th in the 100 free at state last year and led off the Lancers’ winning 200 free relay (1:35.53) and served as the second leg of the triumphant 300 backstroke relay (2:44.91) vs. White division entrants on Saturday.

“Matthew,” Lancers coach Bennett Witteveen said, “is a talented, phenomenal swimmer. But it’s his work ethic that makes him special. You know what he asks me before each practice? First, ‘What are we doing today?’ Then, ‘How can we get better?’”

Naperville Central’s Emerson Wood topped the morning’s Red diving segment, scoring 3338.75 points, while St. Charles East’s Jamie Heuser (324.65) won the White.

Naperville North’s Ryan Chen and Max Fedorovskiy each swam on a trio of runner-up relays (400 medley, 4 X 100 IM, 300 breaststroke) in Red heats.

Red division school Waubonsie Valley — third at state last winter and minus 14 members from that squad due to graduation — was paced by Sri Amaravadi, Manny Perea and Arpan Dhar. All three swam on a pair of third-place relay units (800 free, crescendo 850 free).

In White races, Saint Viator’s Ethan Collins and Tim Dillon helped the Lions’ 100 free and 200 free quartets take third.

Other first-place relay legs at Saturday’s 10-team, 28-event meet included St. Charles East’s Justin Collins, Leo Coss and Jimmy Slater; Barrington’s Tim Sardak, Payton Cotner, Quinn Bennet, Connor Danielson and Evan Kissack; and Lake Park’s Johnny Fox, Brandon Pena, Fredrik Duxbury, James Vasalos, Alan Dizdarevic, Nicolas Bandur, Kieran Laughlin and Nicholas Mikina.

“Kids love this meet because it’s different and it changes things up,” said Naperville North coach Aaron Maschman, referring to the unusual distances of many of the events. “I like it because it gives me a chance to see where we’re at training-wise and what we need to work on as a group.”

Barrington sophomore Matt Bucaro had a long day, competing in diving in the morning and on relays in the afternoon. He took fourth in diving (239.9) and silvered as a member of the Broncos’ frosh-soph 200 medley (1:47.22) and 300 back (2:47.15) relays.

“Matt started diving for us only days ago, if you can believe that,” Keller said. “And, in his first-ever meet as a diver, he finished second in our dual against Conant (on Friday).

“Matt’s energetic,” he added.