Buffalo Grove closes in on East title
Buffalo Grove has en excellent chance to clinch a share of the Mid-Suburban East championship on Friday as the Bison host Prospect.
If they’re able to win against the Knights, Buffalo Grove could wrap up an outright divisional championship the following weekend in a dual against Rolling Meadows.
And that would be sweet indeed for the Bison and coach Jamie Klotz, whose teams have regularly been in the running in the East but have come up just short in recent seasons.
Prospect has a fine batch of developing swimmers, but it’s tough for the Knights — along with any other team in the East — to match Buffalo Grove’s top-line talent.
Everyone’s aware of senior standout Ian Rodriguez, who now hold teams records in the 200 free, 500 free, 200 IM and 100 backstroke.
Just as impressive this season and making the Bison such a formidable dual team are Matt Schulstad and Jon Mass, who each made huge gains between last season and now. Schulstad is among the MSL’s top competitors in the fly and 200 IM; Mass is a sprinter who went 22.67 in the 50 free just last week.
Take that top trio and put them together on a relay, and it’s almost a guaranteed dual meet win.
“Things are going very well right now,” Klotz said. “Everyone seems to be in line to swim faster than last year at the end of the year.”
A pair of juniors are helping bring more depth for BG. Klotz reports that Matt Perek has been quickly developing in the distance freestyles, while Nick Poirer has helped on relays and the shorter freestyle races.
It’s a big weekend all the way around for Buffalo Grove. On Saturday, the Bison host an invitational with teams that figure to provide lots of good races.
“Lake Park, Niles West, and Cary-Grove and Highland Park should really be flying across the pool — with us, too,” Klotz said. “We have some goals to break some school records on Saturday. We’ll see how Day 2 goes. Should be good.”
Cougars gear up: Conant remains unbeaten in the MSL West, with a dual against Schaumburg this Friday and another against Palatine following weekend as its only obstacles toward an outright divisional championship.
After the Cougars’ victory over Barrington last Friday, coach Brian Drenth left the impression that he’s expecting big things from his talented group, and that high opinion is based on its collective no-nonsense approach to training. Especially impressive was the team’s willingness to put in high yardage over the holiday break.
“We got in about 50,000 yards more than we usually do,” Drenth said. “These guys are really great about accepting those challenges and pushing each other to be better.
“It’s great. I just write whatever we’re doing on the board and boom — they’re going.”
Conant joins St. Viator and Wheeling at the invitational hosted by Hersey at Olympic Pool on Saturday.
Broncos bear down: Barrington coach John Valentine was disappointed to lose to Conant in a terrific MSL West dual last Friday, but he’s nothing but encouraged by the work ethic his team is demonstrating.
“There’s no question these guys are working harder than any team I’ve ever had,” he said. “They’re focused and they really seem to understand that there’s a price you have to pay.”
Valentine gave full credit to Conant’s performance in their dual but also said the meet came in a particularly taxing week of training. The Broncos followed last Friday’s dual with a trip to the New Trier Relays against some of the state’s top teams — but it’s all part of a different approach Barrington is hoping pays dividends at season’s end.
“We’re aiming for peak performances at the state meet,” Valentine said. “We haven’t had a swimmer score at state in something like three years, and we need to try to change that. That may mean that we qualify a slightly smaller group than we usually do, but whoever gets there will be positioned for best times and their best races. These guys are looking forward to that.”
Barrington suits up Saturday at an invitational hosted by St. Charles North.