St. Charles North repeats as UEC champ
St. Charles North got a boost in an event that had been the team’s Achilles’ heel for most of the season.
The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Jason Suda, Nick Kowaleski, Kyle Gannon and Chris Dieter swam together for the first time all season and picked up the victory in the process en route to their team’s second straight Upstate Eight Conference swimming and diving title Saturday at Metea Valley.
“I was concerned going in with our 200 freestyle relay,” St. Charles North coach Rob Rooney said. “That was the first time we had those guys together. But I’m extremely proud of them and the team for defending the conference title.”
The win in the 200 freestyle relay was one of two relay victories for St. Charles North, to go along with three individual victories that helped the North Stars defend their title. They finished with a winning team score of 285, followed by Neuqua Valley (229), St. Charles East (217.5), Metea Valley (198.5), Waubonsie Valley (169), Lake Park (117) and Bartlett/Streamwood (74).
Gannon established facility records in winning both the 200-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle. His win in the 500 was nine seconds faster than the previous pool record of 4:49.55. Dieter was champion in the 100-yard freestyle and was part of the winning 200-yard medley relay squad of Joey Chokran, Kowaleski and Suda that finished with a time of 1:38.20.
“We won conference last year and all week we talked about winning it again,” Gannon said.
St. Charles East’s Shaun Seuschek was the only other multiple-event winner in the individual events, taking the title in both the 200-yard IM and the 100-yard butterfly.
“My goal (in the 200 IM) was to break two minutes,” Seuschek said. “The unity of our team and the chanting and encouragement got my heart pumping and my energy up.”
Neuqua Valley’s Robert Vechiola won his team’s only individual title in the 100-yard backstroke, but three second-place finishes helped propel the Wildcats in the standings. Vechiola was second in the 200 IM, followed by Kevin Patterson’s second-place finish in the 200 freestyle and Jerry Wu’s second place showing in the 100 butterfly.
Metea Valley’s Michael Stack won the hosts only individual swimming title in the 100-yard breaststroke, clocking a time of 59.49.
Waubonsie Valley’s Adam Stacklin was part of two winning events as he took the title in the 50-yard freestyle and closed out the meet with Michael McWhirter, Joe Poletto and Stephen Ernst to win the 400-yard freestyle relay.
St. Charles East’s Max Schmitt and Metea Valley’s Peter Rodriguez tied for the individual title in the 1-meter diving event as both finished with a score of 330.35.
Lake Park’s best finishes came from Sean Gregor, fourth in the 100 freestyle, and Jacob Vance, a fourth-place finisher in the 100 breaststroke.
Bartlett’s Grant Gilchrist was sixth in the 200 freestyle.