Boys swimming: West Chicago defends title at Buffalo Grove invite

Michael Marsh’s parents, Nick and Jill, ran the Boston Marathon in 2016.

Michael, a junior, sparkled in the marathon’s watery equivalent on Saturday afternoon, touching first in the 500-yard freestyle (personal-best 4:46.47) for West Chicago’s co-op squad at the Buffalo Grove swimming and diving invite.

“Mom signed me up for lessons at Bear Paddle (Swim School) at an age I can’t remember,” Marsh said shortly after swimming more than 9 seconds faster than his seed time at the 16-team meet. “I swam my first distance race when I was 11 or 12.

“I liked it right away.”

Like parents, like son.

What WeGo’s crew loved on Saturday: hearing it had successfully defended its invite championship with 377 points, well in front of a strong runner-up Cary-Grove co-op (299) and Prospect (third place, 265).

“Michael was going for that kind of time,” said West Chicago assistant Josh May, filling in for ill head coach Troy Murray. “Really impressive.”

West Chicago took first in six of the 12 events and ended the meet emphatically, clocking a pool-record 3:11.01 in the 400 freestyle relay (Shane Johnson, Nathan Lindstrom, Brady Jordan and Tommy Eng).

A C-G quartet had held the previous mark, with a 3:12.23 in 2023.

University of Tampa-bound senior Kasparas Venslauskas paced C-G on Saturday, topping the 100 breaststroke field in 56.83 and helping the 200 medley relay win in 1:38.17. Ignas Venslauskas, Matthew Herron and Victor Praczkowski swam the other legs.

“His primary event, his passion,” C-G coach Scott Lattyak said of Kasparas Venslauskas and the 100 breast. “Kasparas is always trying to get better in that race.”

A pair of Mid-Suburban League entrants and former Lattof YMCA teammates — Rolling Meadows senior Emanuel Anguelov and Prospect senior Auggie Lapys — won the meet’s fifth and sixth events, respectively, with Anguelov zipping to a personal-best 21.6 in the 50 free and Lapys recording a 50.51 versus a formidable final heat in the 100 butterfly.

“My race plan? Get up and go,” said Anguelov, a first-year 50-free competitor at the prep level and a state qualifier in the 100 and 200 free last winter. “I’ve been hammering away in the weight room, focusing on my legs, stability work and explosive work.”

Lapys then lived up to his top seed (50.67) in the 100 fly, though the Knight wasn’t exactly thrilled with a time that bested runner-up Lindstrom (50.88) and Wheeling’s Van Paul (third, 51.13).

“I wanted the pool record (50.2),” admitted Lapys, who, after watching a number of medical drama television series with his mother, is thinking about becoming a nurse anesthetist some day. “I was a little shallow off the walls today.”

Lapys’ favorite medical drama TV series?

“‘House’,” he said.

BG’s Bison took fourth (232 points) in their home water, or exactly where they finished at the same meet in 2024. Coach Tom Cooney’s MSL East-leading club had edged Prospect by 2 points in a dual on Friday.

“We are all tired today,” Cooney said. “We tried to maintain good energy as best as we could.”

BG captain Nolan Smith took third in the 200 free (1:50.81), fifth in the 100 free (49.11) and swam on a pair of fourth-place relays (200 free, 400 free).

“He’s consistent and soft-spoken and humble,” Cooney said.

And clutch. BG secured that dual-meet win over Prospect when Smith and his 400-free-relay colleagues (Luka Gavrilos, Maxim Pralat and David Olaru) won the last event of the night.

Cooney lauded the effort of Pralat, who was a body length behind a Knight when he entered the pool but caught up to him before BG’s third relay member hit the water.

Mundelein, which finished sixth (193 points) on Saturday, got championship points (20) from diver Jack Hansen (430.85), who finished ahead of BG’s Michael Surowaniec (second, 425.35) and Prospect’s Adam Banas (third, 423.85).

Mustangs teammate Cameron Wiklund sped to two fourth-place showings (200 IM, 500 free).

“Every swimmer pushed hard mentally,” said first-year Mundelein coach Jake Gonzalez, a 2018 Mundelein HS graduate. “That was our main goal today.”

Lake Park’s Matthew Karasek rebounded nicely two events after finishing second (21.8) to Anguelov in the 50 free. The Lancer turned the chlorinated tables on the RM Mustang, hitting the final wall in 47.79 to Anguelov’s runner-up time of 47.92.

“Matthew is very talented and works incredibly hard,” LP coach Bennett Witteveen said. “Today we wanted our entire team to get in a postseason mindset. A handful of our JV swimmers were here today, and they saw possible opportunities to make our sectional lineup.

“The dedication of this group,” he added, “is unmatched.”

West Chicago’s other event champions: Johnson (200 free, 1:42.96); Lindstrom (200 IM, 1:52.74); 200 free relay (Johnson, Sam Ortiz, Eng, Lindstrom, 1:27.49); and Jordan (100 backstroke, 53.55).

Prospect’s 400 free relay of Lapys, John Kowalczyk, Marko Bjelan and James Moreth silvered in 3:18.33, and its 200 medley unit of Lapys, Alex Verdet, Max Dembowski and Moreth took third (1:40.12); Wheeling’s Adam Akhter bronzed in the 100 back (56.09); West Chicago’s Nathan Walkington (4:54.08) and C-G’s Charlie Edwards (4:54.65) went 2-3 in the 500 free; and BG’s 200 free relay of Smith, Olaru, Gavrilos and Ben Inglis took fourth (1:30.68).

Wheeling finished seventh (153.5 points) in the team standings, just ahead of Lake Park (eighth, 150). RM placed ninth (114).