Gagliardo, Devils get it done
He already won the 200 IM in 2:06.87, accepted the first-place medal in the 100 fly, and swam a blistering 22.18 in the opening leg of the 200 free relay as Warren won in 1:33.91.
How much energy could he possible have left as he stood on the blocks for the meet's final scored event?
"A lot" would be the correct answer. With the Blue Devils holding a slim lead over Deerfield, senior Kirk Gagliardo went out in a school-record 47.81, giving Kurtis Schultz, Jono Leafblad and Brendan Seebach just enough cushion to hold off the Warriors in the 400 free relay 3:27.26-3:27.49.
The win locked up Warren's third Olympic Invitational title and first since 2003 as it outscored Deerfield 115-107.
"That's a case of (Kirk) wanting to win this meet," said Warren coach Erik Rogers, whose team hosts Vernon Hills next Friday. "Normally at the end of the meet Kirk's wiped and you get a swim that's a little bit slower than he normally goes. We've never had a record at the end of the meet from him."
It was the second time Gagliardo rewrote the record book on Saturday afternoon as he set a meet record in the 100 fly (53.76), outlasting Jacobs/Dundee-Crown's Sean Kelly ( 57.50) and Hersey senior Tony Ponzo (58.36).
"We've been working endurance for legs … coming to the end, trying to keep the energy up, that intensity going," said Gagliardo, who plans to swim this fall at Division III Grove City College in Pennsylvania. "I'm just glad I was able to finish."
Warren received a balanced effort, as Schultz took second in the 100 free (52.57) and third in the 50 free (23.89), Seebach was third (1: 02.67) in the 100 back to Kelly (57.71) and Deerfield's Greg Ewing (1:01.19), and sophomore Nolan Cox had a pair of third-place efforts -- 1:59.99 in the 200 free and 5:22.45 in the 500 free.
Defending invitational champion Conant finished third with 96 points, ahead of Jacobs/Dundee-Crown (81), Hersey (50) and St. Viator (7).
"Third with this group is real good," said Conant coach Brian Drenth, noting a flu bug that has spread through his squad. "There were some phenomenal times today. A lot of guys stepped up."
Among those was Will Landgren. The sophomore shaved another two seconds off his 100 breaststroke time (1:06.14) as he took second to Jacobs/Dundee-Crown's Nick Pankau (1:05.24). Landgren also won the 50 free in 23.47 as the top four finishers placed within 44-hundredths.
"Under 22.5 (seconds) is my goal," Landgren signed through his interpreter Jill Kelly. "I'm trying to make the cut for state."
Conant senior Mike McGuire won the 100 free in 52.14 and took second (1:55.81) to Deerfield junior Mike Brew (1:51.78) in the 200 free, and teammate Chris Emery finished runner-up in the 500 free (5: 05.93) and 200 IM (2:09.11).
Nick Rizza took first in diving (326.45) for the Cougars, ahead of Hersey senior Jeff Mitchem (314.15).
"This was a fun meet, we've been coming here for a lot of years," Drenth said. "I always tell the guys, 'This is where our times usually start dropping and this is where we see where we need to be.' "
Brew also took top honors in the 500 free (5:03.36) for Deerfield, which finished second at the invitational for the third time in four years. The Warriors did receive a consolation prize at the end of the meet after winning the Jelly Bean Relay and the bags of candy that accompanied the victory.
At St. Charles North: There's always a point where the hard training boys swimmers endure all season starts to pay off.
For Libertyville's team, that came on Saturday at the St. Charles North Invitational, where the Wildcats finished second, just 3 points behind meet champion Byron.
"This was the first time where everyone was showing the positive signs of a really tough winter break," Libertyville coach Chris Wetteland said. "We had a pretty tough break, and the first couple of meets after break haven't been that positive because everyone was tired."
But the Wildcats stayed in a tight race with the host North Stars and Byron throughout the meet.
"Today, the guys seemed to use our hard training as an advantage and used it to swim fast," Wetteland said,
Ben Glick was Libertyville's long individual event winner and he won the 500-yard freestyle. The Wildcats clinched second place when John Blankenhorn, Kegan Rogers, Stevie Wimmer and Glick won the meet-ending 400 freestyle relay.
The hard training is set to continue for the Wildcats, who have seen some of the top teams in the invitational before this winter.
"Oh, they're still exhausted," Wetteland said. "This is great. We've gotten to swim against St. Charles North twice and they've gotten the better of us. And we edged Barrington at Lake County."
Libertyville has one dual meet remaining before championship season begins. Championship season consists of the trio of conference, sectional and state meets.
-- Darryl Mellema