Stensby, Stevenson still tops in NSC
Times were dropping like crazy and the bleach-blonde hair was out in force.
Must mean the state boy's swimming and diving finals are fast approaching.
Actually, sectionals are next Saturday at Vernon Hills High School, with state berths to New Trier the following weekend on the line.
For now, though, it's more of a stepping stone in the process - but nonetheless important to represent well in your own conference championships.
Stevenson did that and then some when it hosted the North Suburban Conference meet on Saturday afternoon.
The Pats produced conference champions in 10 out of 12 events while piling up 420 points to help them comfortably repeat as kings of the North Suburban.
"When you do well at conference, it kind of sends a statement and further expresses how well the team's been doing and how deep we are," said Topher Stensby, who isn't even partially tapered to this point, which is good. "Getting to the state finals and having as many swims as possible on Saturday is always the goal."
As for this Saturday, Stensby had himself quite an afternoon, collecting four conference championship medals.
He set personal-best times in winning both the 50 (21.09) and 100 (46.73) freestyle events.
"I kind of surprised myself but it's been fantastic because everyone's dropping times," said Stensby, who made it to state a year ago on the Pats 200 and 400 relays. "I've been working on my turns and finishes in the 100."
After his two individual wins, Stensby swam anchor on both of those aforementioned relays that earned top honors.
He first paired with John Roh, Jacob Rosenkranz, and Andrew Shashin to win the 200 freestyle relay in 1:27.20. Stensby then teamed with Nick Baginski, Shashin, and Daniel Ng to win the meet's final event, the 400-free relay in 3:11.47.
Speaking of Ng, he also led off the first-place 200 medley relay, joining forces with Joseph Song, Baginski, and Rosenkranz to swim a 1:36.26.
The junior then picked up an individual title after winning the 200 IM in 1:57.12, while Baginski was the conference champ in the 100 butterfly (52.12).
Pats senior Matt Krames outdid himself once again in taking first in the 1-meter diving while in the process breaking his own 11-dive personal and school record when he amassed 485.20 points.
Other conference champions for Stevenson included Ethan Ross winning the 200 freestyle (1:44.94) and Nathan Gates winning the 500 freestyle in 4:49.65.
Brian Tabourot did Warren proud by winning a conference title in the 100 backstroke, where he swam a 54.33.
A moment of silence in memory of Joshua Church was held before the meet.
Church was a junior and star Blue Devil swimmer before suffering a fatal heart attack last November.
"We just want to thank everyone for the amazing support with all of the friendships and donations and everything," said Blue Devils coach Chris Bertana, fighting off tears.
"I am so proud to be a part of the North Suburban Conference and we encourage all athletes to get a heart scan. It may save a life someday."
As a team, Warren finished fifth with 137 points.
Libertyville's Billy Bennett earned a conference title in the 100 breaststroke, where he swam a personal-best 58.99 - which betters the state-qualifying standard.
"It's exciting and always important to do well in conference because everyone knows everyone and it's always great swimming against Ng (from Stevenson) - he's one of the best," said Bennett, who also swam on the second-place 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays. "I'm really working hard on my hip movement and making stronger and tighter turns."
As a team, Libertyville was second behind Stevenson with 273 points, while Lake Forest was third with 159.
Mundelein had a nice meet in finishing fourth with 151 points.
The North Suburban Conference recognizes one swimmer from each school for the Sportsmanship Award, and Kyle Guzzio earned that honor for the Mustangs.
"Kyle's not competing at sectionals (next week), so we decided to put a suit on him and he ended up having a great swim," said Mundelein coach Rahul Sethna.
"But we swam really well on both levels today (varsity and junior varsity). Sometimes there are larger goals but it's always a good thing to do well at conference. And ours is one of the best in the state. It's also another chance where you swim against great competition."
Guzzio ended up taking sixth in the 50 freestyle, where he clocked in at 23.01 seconds.
Rahul Arun won the Sportsmanship Award for Stevenson, while Satya Arcot was Warren's recipient and senior Marine-bound Eric Turner took the honor for Libertyville.