Seniors Falconer, Wimmer come through in finals

No one can really blame Mundelein senior Pat Falconer for being just a little tired after his weekend at the boys swimming and diving state championships at Evanston.

In two days of competition including Saturday's finals, Falconer competed in 8 total events and swam over 1,600 yards.

Yet on Saturday, after just having competed in the final 500 freestyle race of his Mundelein career, the Michigan State-bound Falconer still had enough to muster up the lead leg of the Mustangs' 200 freestyle relay team.

"The 50 free is not normally my race," Falconer said with a smile. "I just went out and gave everything I had in that race to try and help the team."

Falconer helped the Mustangs relay team that included Connor Black, Will Davidson and Bryan Wiener to an eighth-place finish in 1:27.06.

He later contributed to a school-record performance for the Mustangs' 400 freestyle relay team as he joined Black, Davidson and David Dickinson to a 3:12.10 clocking and an 11th-place finish.

"I think I am still just running on adrenaline," Falconer said. "Come an hour or two from now or later tonight I will come down from all of this and crash."

Individually, Falconer swam to a third-place finish in the 200 freestyle (1:40.67) and a fourth-place effort in the 500 freestyle (4:33.27).

His four medals made him just the second Mustangs swimmer - the first since Justin Mathias did it in 1999 - to earn four medals in one state meet.

"Pat has really been the driving force behind what we have done all season and what we were able to accomplish today," said Mundelein coach Rahul Sethna. "He has been a focal point for this program the last two years and has just been great for us."

Mundelein finished 12th in the team race with 37 points.

The team championship race came down to the final race of the afternoon - the 400 freestyle relay. In it, Naperville Central swam to a state title in 3:04.93 but more importantly the 32 points gave the Redhawks 156 and their first state team championship in eight years. Rival Neuqua Valley finished second with 153 points followed by defending champion New Trier with 151 points.

Peoria Richwoods junior Matt Elliot captured a pair of state titles, including the 100 breastroke crown. In that race, Elliott lowered the state record which he set in prelims the night before with a time of 54.74.

Libertyville senior Stevie Wimmer relished his chance to swim one more time at Evanston after earning a spot in the finals of the 50 and 100 freestyles.

In the 50 freestyle, Wimmer put together a much cleaner race than his prelim after Friday with a 20.72 clocking. That was good for second place to Dominik Cubelic of Glenbrook South, who won the event for the second straight season.

The Kentucky-bound Wimmer swam the 100 freestyle in his final race of the day and again put together a better effort than the day before. This time his 45.48 was good enough for third overall behind Cubelic and senior Mitch Stoehr of Lake Forest.

"I felt a lot better for some reason than I did yesterday," Wimmer said. "I just had a lot of fun this weekend, and the experience and the atmosphere here was just great. I put up some good times and just had a great year with all my friends on the team."

Stevenson senior Josh Hodges had just one way to go in the consolation heat of the 100 butterfly, and he decided to improve. Hodges, who was moved to lane one after Fridays prelims, finished ninth overall in 51.65, moving up two spots.

"This was a nice experience for me and a great way to end my high school career," Hodges said. "I was still a little nervous as compared to (Friday) but still felt good in the water."

Hodges, Langston Fitts, Adam Salzman and Ryota Kuwahara teamed up for the Patriots 400 freestyle relay and swam to 12th overall in 3:13.73.

Daniel Le of Lakes also moved up from his prelims finish in the breaststroke. Le was seeded ninth going into the consolation finals and wound up eighth in a season-best 58.64 clocking.

Danny Conway of Warren also competed in the consolation heat of the 500 freestyle and wound up 12th in 4:42.01.

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