Falconer’s festive garb has victorious Mundelein seeing red
It was impossible to miss Sean Falconer at a swimming and diving meet Thursday night.
Mundelein’s senior tri-captain wore a headpiece that would have made Little Red Riding Hood envious. Falconer donned it near the end of the Mustangs’ North Suburban Conference dual at Libertyville, before serving as a lap counter for sophomore teammate Jason Rehor in the 500-yard freestyle.
The hood of the headpiece yes, it was red doubled as a floppy Santa face. The other part of it looked like an attached towel, or a mini-cape, and it draped most of Falconer’s back.
It was funny-looking and festive and goofy.
His other piece of clothing during the race?
A bathing suit.
“Stole it from my sister (Erin) for the meet,” Falconer said of the eye-catching headgear. “She’s probably not too happy about that. I put it on for the 500 because Jason gets a little tense at times, and I thought he’d loosen up after seeing me.”
It worked.
“It made me laugh,” said Rehor, who finished runner-up (5:22.97) in the event to senior teammate Will Davidson (5:17.2) in Mundelein’s 100-83 victory. “I get super nervous and super tense before races, and looking at what Sean was wearing on deck that helped me settle down quite a bit.”
But Mundelein didn’t win the NSC opener Thursday because of an unusual fashion statement. The Mustangs’ speed and talent spoke deafening volumes. Davidson also touched first in the 50 free (22.51), anchored the victorious 200 medley relay (140.16) and swam on the winning 400 free relay (3:21.74); sophomore teammate Connor Black, a burgeoning star, topped the 200 free (1:48.79) and 100 backstroke (53.43) fields.
“With an early-season meet like this one, the focus is often on racing,” Mundelein coach Rahul Sethna said. “You want to see how your guys race. This is a good rivalry, a natural rivalry. We knew we would have to compete well to beat Libertyville. Our guys rose tonight. We got good swims from guys who took second and third.”
Mundelein’s “B” 200-free-relay guys nearly sped to an improbable triumph Thursday. Matt Marcotte, Art Kasemets, Adam Turkula and Jeff Anderson clocked a runner-up 1:34.94 a scant 0.22 behind Libertyville’s Ben Snader, Daniel Guerrero, Patrick Hughes and Atticus Rush.
“Tonight I learned our youth is going to be really impressive down the line,” said Libertyville coach Kevin Zakrzewski, a 2000 Stevenson graduate who swam against Sethna’s squads. “We lost some outstanding top-end guys to graduation (all-stater Stevie Wimmer, for one), but I firmly believe we are deeper this year, and we’re better now than we were at this point of the season last year.”
Libertyville’s Rush is a freshman, as is Alex Snarski, the winner by 4-plus seconds in the 100 butterfly (54.35). Snader, bound for perennial Division III power Denison (Ohio) University, motored to wins in the 200 IM (2:03.32) and 100 breaststroke (1:02.32).
“Ben is no longer a teen; Ben is a man,” Zakrzewski said of his fourth-year varsity member and one of his captains.
A four-event state qualifier last winter, Snader has vowed to empty his mind before climbing starting blocks in 2010-11.
“Staying relaxed while competing is so important, and in order to do that, you can’t think,” he said. “You do. That’s all; you do. You have to do.”
Falconer, Black and junior Bryan Weiner joined Davidson on the 200 medley and 400 free relays; and Weiner won the 100 free in 50.02, ahead of Falconer (2nd, 52.68) and Anderson (3rd, 53.02). Libertyville’s Teddy Kelley scored a meet-best 226.5 points in diving.