Marmion stays in hunt
On the fastest day in Illinois boys high school swimming, it was possible to swim exceptionally well and still get lost in the shuffle.
Four state records fell on Friday at the IHSA state prelims and Glenbrook South's 200-yard freestyle relay set a national record with it swam 1:22.63. And if you think that those things - none of which involved local athletes - didn't impact the others competing in the meet, you'd be dead wrong.
"I wasn't in the pool and I wasn't on the team that set the national record, but I was there," St. Charles East senior Ken Tiltges said. "It gets you pumped up. I'm here competing but I'll root for anybody. All power to them and anybody who's done what they did today."
For the record - literally - the other state marks to fall went to New Trier's 200 medley relay (1:31.78), New Trier's Mike Dominski in the 100 butterfly (48.19) and Neuqua Valley's Kevin Overholt in the 100 freestyle (44.11.)
On New Trier's fast aquatic track, Marmion kept itself in the trophy hunt with a gutsy performance that was keyed by its three relays, which all qualified for the championship heat in today's finals.
"The guys who needed to step swam great," Marmion senior Tyler Capen said. "We made the finals we needed to in order to put us into position (Saturday) to move up in the standings."
The Cadets have a lot of room to pick up more points. So although New Trier is the odds-on favorite to win the title and Neuqua Valley is in the driver's seat to finish second, Marmion has a lot for which to swim this afternoon.
"I think it's us and Naperville Central and I think Glenbrook (South) may be in the mix too," Marmion coach Bill Schalz said. "We've got an opportunity to step up right away when we swim against Naperville Central in the medley relay."
Marmion's best performance came from Matt Pircon in the 50-yard freestyle, where he swam the second fastest prelim time. Matt Lifka is fourth-best in the 100 breaststroke and Capen swims in the championship heat after recording the fifth-best time in the 200 individual medley.
Lifka and Pircon set school records with their swims, proving that even those swimmers who weren't rewriting the state record book were still moving as fast as ever.
"We had a lot of good things," Schalz said. "We had some things where I think we could do better."
Each of Marmion's relays enters today's finals seeded third after each quartet broke the Cadets' school record on Friday. New Trier and Neuqua Valley are the other teams that feature in all three Top 6 relay races. Points in relays are doubled, and only points scored this afternoon count toward the final score.
"I think our medley is better than it showed today," Schalz said. "We've got a little quirkiness to work out of us. But when push comes to shove, coming down the stretch, we were very good."
St. Charles North's medley relay swims for the consolation title after its 10th-fastest swim on Friday. The North Stars had a number of near-misses. Alex Peterson was 13th in the 100 butterfly - .03 from the finals. Dan Stanek was 15th in the 100 breaststroke - .26 from the finals.
"I think today, we did not have the same fire we had last week (at sectionals) in regards to some stuff," St. Charles North coach Rob Rooney said. "We're not the only ones. I think last week kind of snapped us a little bit. That's fine. We had a great meet last week. But that meet's not this meet."
Nick Smith is 11th-fastest in the 50 freestyle and 10th-best in the 100 freestyle.
"I would have liked to go faster today," Smith said. "But state's full of ups and downs, and (Saturday) I get another chance to prove myself and see what I can do."
Adam Carnell swims in the consolation final of the 200 freestyle and the 100 freestyle today while Tiltges swims in the consoles of the 50 freestyle and the 100 breaststroke.
Batavia's Albert Roth advanced to the consolation final in the 200 individual medley. Kaneland's Grant Alef did not qualify for today's finals in either event in which he swam.