St. Charles East squeaks out title at own invite

There was a moment just before the start of the meet-ending 800-yard freestyle relay when St. Charles East didn't have anywhere near a full quartet behind the starting blocks.

A little sorting out later and all four - Nick Watts, Shaun Seuschek, T.J. Bindseil and Shane Seuschek - were right where they needed to be before the race began. And to be sure, it was a race none of them wanted to miss.

Those four raced to second place in that event, but importantly kept Lyons Township in third, and that meant the Saints claimed this year's version of the St. Charles East College Events Invitational.

"There's a lot of points in that relay," Shane Seuschek said. "We didn't come out on top but we came out on top of who was right behind us and that was what was important."

The excitement of the moment caught all four Saints - especially anchor-leg swimmer Shane Seuschek, who swam the first 100 of his leg in 50 seconds as he attempted to swim down Lincoln-Way North's Kyler Vanswol for the overall race win. The toll showed in the back half of the race and Seuschek swam 58 seconds over the second 100 but still held onto second place.

"I hit the water so fast - I really wanted to catch that (Vanswol)," Shane Seuschek said. "He got me and then my goal was just to take second. My splits were interesting but I finished second."

"We had a good meet today," Cabel said. "The College Events meet kind of suits our tastes. We had some guys come up with some really big times and some new guys step up."

The Saints, firm underdogs to the Lions based on times entering the meet, entered the final race ahead by 3 points, meaning results of that last race at the Norris Center pool would be decisive in which team won the sixth edition of the Saints college events meet.

While many events in the 15-event format are familiar to high school swim fans, the college events format features a 1000 freestyle and 200-yard events in each stroke, not just the freestyle as is the case in high school meets. There were also only two relays, a 400 medley relay to open the swimming and the 800 freestyle relay to conclude matters - both double their high school distances.

And the Saints trailed early in the meet, but edged ahead with strong performances in the races just before the 800 freestyle relay. The Seuschek's had strong days in the water. Shane won the 200 freestyle and the 100 freestyle while Shaun won the 200 backstroke and the 100 butterfly. Jordan Heggen provided the Saints with their other event victory in the 100 backstroke.

"If was fun, coming from behind and winning it at the end," Shane Seuschek said.

Cabel said the impact of winning on Saturday cannot be underestimated. In the final relay alone, Watts and Bindseil are freshmen, Shaun Seuschek is a sophomore while Shane Seuschek is one of the team's three seniors.

"We're a young team and they're maturing nicely," Cabel said. "It's a huge win for us. They're a lot better than they were in December. I'm glad to see that. Winning never hurts the ego."

The co-op of Jacobs and Dundee-Crown finished fifth of the five competing teams. But with a very young team that is still filling holes created by 2009's graduating class. Coach Rick Andresen found plenty of positives from his eight-member varsity team.

"We like coming here," Andresen said. "We like the college events kind of meet. We're just really thin. We graduated seven seniors last year so we're kind of rebuilding. We don't have a lot of depth, although we have some good individuals."

Alex Elston had one of the stronger days for Andresen's team, including a second-place finish in the 100 butterfly and a role in the co-op's second-placed 400 freestyle relay.

"I'm very pleased with some of the time drops," Andresen said. "We had a great practice session during Christmas vacation. It shows in the way they are swimming now."