Depth sends Stevenson soaring to NSC honors

It may be a difficult concept for some to understand, but this is how the North Suburban Conference swimming and diving championships played out at Vernon Hills on Saturday.

First, the team that won the meet didn't have an individual champion - while a team without a pool to train in boasted its first-ever conference champion and conference record holder.

Sound strange? Possibly, but the meet also featured some expected occurrences.

The expected performances came from the stars - seniors Stevie Wimmer of Libertyville, Mitch Stoehr of Lake Forest and Pat Falconer of Mundelein. The three accounted for two relay and five individual titles, some in record-setting fashion.

Couple that with a few bleached-out hairdos and it made for an exciting afternoon at Vernon Hills.

But when the waves in the pool finally subsided, the Stevenson Patriots were crowned champions by amassing 267 points. Defending champion Lake Forest was second with 239.5, followed closely by Warren (217) and Libertyville (215).

"The top end of our depth is getting better and it is always our goal to be peaking when we get to the sectional meet and of course the state meet," said Stevenson coach Greg Hartman. "We had a lot of guys step up today and perform well and that, combined with our depth, which is our strength helped us get the job done."

The Patriots' best individual finishes came in the 100 butterfly and the 200 individual medley. In the 100 fly, Josh Hodges did his best to keep up with the Kentucky-bound Wimmer, but finished second with a season-best time of 52.50.

In the IM, junior Adam Salzman was edged out by a faster time in a previous heat by Libertyville junior Benjamin Snader. Salzman still dropped over two seconds from his seed time en route to second place.

Snader came out of a slower heat by seed time to win another conference title. Snader had captured the 100 breastroke at last year's NSC meet, and this time his over four-second time drop propelled him to another crown.

"I figured I would be in the 2:02 range, but never thought I would come in at two-flat like that," Snader said. "Everything just felt great today and it all came together for me."

Snader was part of a very good day from the Wildcats. Led by Wimmer, Libertyville captured a relay and four individual titles. Wimmer was sensational, blistering the pool in winning the 100 fly in a personal-best, conference-best and pool-best clocking of 50.40 in the 100 fly.

Wimmer also anchored the Wildcats' 200 freestyle relay team of Chris Marr, Brad Ostmeyer and Snader to the win in 1:28.34, and he coupled that by taking the 50 freestyle in 21.05.

"I made a few technical errors in my 50. Otherwise I felt like I could go 20-point," Wimmer said.

The win in the butterfly wasn't surprising to Wimmer, but the time was.

"I looked at the clock and was like, I don't know what to say, I don't think it has even hit me yet," Wimmer said. "My coaches and I had talked about maybe swimming the fly next week, but now that I have put this time up, we will have to think again."

Libertyville's Teddy Kelley also captured a conference title as he won the diving competition with a score of 337.60.

Just as Libertyville thought it was going to contend in the middle of the NSC race, Warren snuck up and nipped the Cats for third with an impressive relay performance and a sparkling effort by a freshman.

Matt Conway came into the meet as the top seed in the backstroke but still needed everything in his arsenal to hold off Lake Forest sophomore Bryan Bunning. Conway's win by .08 gave the Devils their lone NSC title.

"I really had to focus on my kick," Conway said. "I definitely saw (Bunning) next to me - he was fast."

The most unusual story of the afternoon came in the 100 breaststroke. Lakes Community High School does not have a pool - the Eagles don't even have a pond. But it hasn't slowed down freshman Daniel Le.

In his first NSC meet, Le was terrific in the 100 breaststroke as he took the title in record-setting fashion. His effort of 59.27 shattered a 23-year old conference record.

"I got off to a good start and got stronger and stronger," Le said. "This was a great experience."

Lakes also earned medals in the 200 medley relay (fifth place), from Le in the 200 IM (third), Andrew Lindquist in the 50 freestyle (sixth) and in the 200 freestyle relay, where the Eagles placed sixth.

Falconer, who will swim at Michigan State next year, captured the 500 freestyle in a conference-record time of 4:40.56.