Marmion off to impressive start
When they get around to scoring points in the boys state swim meet Saturday afternoon, Marmion's going to feature prominently. Just where that takes the Cadets is anyone's guess. But the simple truth is that the team had a solid Friday series of preliminary swims at Evanston.
Marmion has 5 swims in the finals, including its 200-yard medley relay as well as senior Matt Pircon in the 50 freestyle and 100 breaststroke - three swims that will take place in the "championship heat," where placings first through sixth are decided. Ben Kanute swims in the consolation heat of the 500 freestyle after dropping 8 seconds from his sectional time. The Cadets 200 freestyle relay also swims in the consolation final.
"We had just a great meet," Marmion coach Bill Schalz said. "We were seeded in the 20s and 30s all day and we've got a lot of sixths and 12ths and situations where we got in to finals. I'm ecstatic, this is the best possible result we could possibly have expected."
Pircon finished runner-up in the 50 freestyle last year and will finish in the Top 6 again this year. The bonus for his is a second individual swim. He was third-fastest in the breaststroke on Friday - an event in which the state record fell. Peoria Richwoods junior Matt Elliott swam 55.23 to Gianni Minervini's record of 55.56 which had stood since 1984. Pircon swam 57.14.
"The 50 didn't come as well as I thought it could have," Pircon said. "I came out of the breaststroke with something positive and now I can wake up with that positive feeling."
Pircon swam the sixth-fastest 50 freestyle and scraped into the finals. But both he and Schalz talked afterward about ways to clean up his race before medals are handed out today.
"There's always room for improvement in my 50," Pircon said.
The only other local involvement in the finals comes from Kaneland junior Grant Alef, who qualified for the consolation finals in the 500 freestyle and the 100 backstroke.
"I'm a little tired, that 500 hurt a lot," Alef said. "I came here and did what I had to do, which was qualify for (Saturday.) Everything else is just icing on the cake."
State prelims became a string of non-qualifications for both St. Charles East and St. Charles North. For the first time, a St. Charles swimmer will not claim a boys swimming medal.
"It's very frustrating," St. Charles East coach Joe Cabel said. "It's the first time we haven't scored at state, the first time the St. Charles community has not scored at state."
Cabel saw plenty of positives in the way his team swam.
"Probably the best swim was from Shaun (Seuschek) in the 100 fly and then our two seniors - Shane Seuschek and Jordan Heggen - capped off the meet in our 400 free relay with a couple of great swims. Now we'll go back to the drawing boards and get ready for next year."
Cabel said his team had to taper in order to get athletes qualified for prelims. The downside was those athletes had no further time drops at the state meet. But with some young, talented swimmers in the state team, the future looks bright for the Saints.
"Next year, we won't shave for sectional," Cabel said. "We have a lot of talented guys. We'll miss the leadership of our seniors, but guys will step up and we'll be OK."
Both St. Charles teams brought very youthful teams to the state meet - especially St. Charles North, which only had one senior on the varsity team this winter.
"It was a learning day for us," St. Charles North coach Rob Rooney said. "Next year, we will not be suffering from a lack of experience. We're in a learning curve, and that's the positive side of it."
Rooney predicted the North Stars would use the experience from Friday's meet as they prepare for the 2010-11 season.
"We got a goose egg and that's a bit to bite off," Rooney said."But you have to handle it the right way. I told the boys that we were not walking out with our heads held down. With the nucleus we have, we will come out swinging next year - and we will be in the thick of it before long."
Geneva sophomore Joe Hollman was the other area qualifier and he failed to advance in the 200 freestyle.
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