Opener reveals reasons for optimism at Buffalo Grove
Buffalo Grove coach Jamie Klotz and Schaumburg coach Tom Gallagher both entered Friday's season-opening boys swimming dual at BG in search of answers.
Both had seen a large group of standard-setting seniors graduate after last season, so the first step of the new campaign was a chance for them to take inventory.
Klotz got several promising answers as the Bison produced a 130-54 victory.
Sophomore Ian Rodriguez led the way for BG, delivering individual wins by impressive margins in the 200-yard IM (2:09.53) and in the 100 backstroke in a personal-best 56.80. He also had the breaststroke leg on the winning 200 medley relay with teammates Glen Bernard, Matt Schulstad and Brad Lotzer, and he teamed with Matt O'Rourke, Bernard and Jon Mass on the winning 400 free relay.
"Ian was very good today," Klotz said. "He was pretty much on his own in the IM and the backstroke, and he's at or ahead of where he was at the end of last year."
More important than any individual success to Klotz was a general acceptance of what it will take for BG to achieve its cumulative potential. Inthe 100 fly, for instance, Mass won in 1:04.05 and Schulstad was right behind in 1:05.38.
"About two weeks ago, I had some real concerns about how things were going to go for us this year," Klotz said. "I feel a lot differently today because I saw people accepting their challenges and stepping into their roles. In the fly, I had a goal for (Mass and Schulstad) to both get under 1:06, and they did that. We're going to need them to be competitive in that event from a team standpoint, and now I know they can be."
There were positives for Schaumburg as well. Senior Ben Epperly honed his sprinting skills and won the 50 in 24.13 and the 100 free in 52.96, and sophomore Randy Carr narrowly missed victory in the 100 breaststroke (1:14.57) after BG's Victor Sanyn (1:14.40) touched him out.
"We learned a lot today, and we found out some really good things," Gallagher said. "We're a very, very young team. This is a starting point for a lot of these guys, and we're at the point where we're still setting the expectation, letting them know that we need an honest daily effort from them. If they give us that, we'll be just fine."
• Conant's Ryan Chiero won the 100-yard fly (59.94) and the 200 IM (2:10.41), and Will Landgren won the 200 free (1:58.34) and had legs on two winning relays as the host Cougars topped Rolling Meadows 139-54.
• Prospect got individual wins from Tyler Bengtsen in the 50-meter free (26.81), from Mike McPartlin in the100 free(1:03.86), from Joe Lakner in the 100 fly (1:07.29) on the way to a 119-67 victory over host Hoffman Estates.
• Brad Ferris won the 200-meter IM (2:31.69) and the 500 free (6:13.37) and also had a leg on the winning medley relay as host Palatine edged Wheeling 107-79. Greg Bell won the 50 free (27.69) and had legs on both the winning 200 free relay (1:57.9) and the medley relay.