Pircon leads Marmion to 10th place

If you're looking to give your boys swim a feeling of how exciting the state meet can be, Saturday's incredible three-team race can't be beat.

And there was Marmion's full team watching as Naperville Central pipped Neuqua Valley 156-153 for the title - with New Trier marginally behind by 5 points. All three teams entered the final race with a chance to win the meet - and the Redhawks did the trick when they won the 400-yard freestyle relay.

The future was much on Marmion's mind, even as the Cadets put together a solid 10th-place finish.

"It's a great accomplishment," Marmion coach Bill Schalz said. "I think the highest we were ranked all year was 15th. I'm ecstatic with a Top 10 finish. I'm so proud of the way the kids swam through the weekend."

Even the Cadets who were alternates for the state meet sat through both days of competition, to the final event, when fans from all three schools vying for the title as well as Naperville North turned Evanston's pool deck into a place where making oneself heard was nearly impossible.

"We have a lot coming back," Schalz said. "We had a big meeting (Friday) night about what it takes to compete in this meet. Hopefully they'll take it to heart and we'll come back stronger next year."

As is often the case, Marmion's success was molded during Friday preliminaries. The Cadets moved a placing up or down on Saturday but saw no significant jumps or drops.

"For us, it was really about getting into finals," Schalz said. "I'm very pleased we put ourselves in position to swim in finals. We gained a lot of experience with juniors, sophomores and freshmen."

Marmion's lone senior at the state meet was Matt Pircon, and he capped his career by finishing fifth in the 50 freestyle and also finishing fifth in the 100 breaststroke.

"I had slower times than I had (Friday) and I was really disappointed in myself," Pircon said. "But like (Schalz) says, it's very hard to come back after swimming Friday. I think the guys got stronger through the season and they'll be more confident and a strong team next year."

Ben Kanute capped his junior year by finishing eighth in the 500 freestyle, which represented a two-place improvement on his finals seeding.

"It was a lot of fun," Kanute said. "I had some people to race today and I used that to compete. I wanted to go out the same time as yesterday and then to take it from the 200 or 300 mark."

The Cadets had two relay swims in finals as well. The 200 medley relay was sixth while the 200 freestyle relay was 12th.

Kaneland's Grant Alef walked on-deck through the state meet wearing one of those team T-shirts that every team wears. On the front, it had the school logo. On the back was a Michael Phelps quote: "I won't predict anything historic. But nothing is impossible."

Alef made the shirt himself in an art design class - a project on which he got an A. His performances as a Kaneland swimmer at the state meet were equally worthy of high marks. Alef became the second Kaneland athlete to place in the state swim meet - and the first swimmer to do so - when he finished ninth in the 500 freestyle and was eighth in the 100 backstroke.

"I'm satisfied with my places," Alef said. "I've got two more championship meets this season for my club and I've got to get moving for those."

The pace of the 500 consolation final was slow. Through 300 yards, all six swimmers had a chance to win the heat, eventually won by Fremd's Jeff Freund.

"We all just kind of hung in there," Alef said. "I think if anyone wanted to push it, we would have been more spread out. But I don't think anyone wanted to push it."

Jim Watson won the diving title for Kaneland in 1990 and is the only Knights athlete to place in the state swim meet. Alef said being the second medal-winner in the sport was "an honor."

"I get my picture in the Kaneland state finalists hall of fame," Alef said. "And it's the first swimming medal we've ever gotten."

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