Pircon excels at rare swimming/football combo

It goes without saying that every top quality swimmer wants to beat everyone else when they get into the water.

But sprinters have a different look to them as they get onto the blocks. The margin for error is greater, the need for speed is increased and a single mistake may not only be the difference between first and second ­- it could mean the difference between first and last.

When it comes to thriving in that environment, Marmion needs look no further than junior Matt Pircon, who loves that pressure and succeeds in a scenario many say is akin to Old West gunslingers dueling.

"It really is you against another person," Pircon said. "Yeah, there are other guys in the race. I dual meets, it's usually you against that one other competitor. It's not like the 500, where you might be able to catch up. It's do or die and one mistake loses."

The 50-yard freestyle s the ultimate challenge. In its most barren form, the race consists of a start, a flip turn at the far wall and then a finish. The race is over within 20 seconds, meaning the competitors may have more time stepping onto the blocks and getting prepared than they do in the water.

Pircon swims the 50 as well as the 100 freestyle for Marmion. He is likely to swim all three relays at the Feb. 21 IHSA Sectional at St. Charles East.

"The block is just the time before the storm," Pircon said. "It gets all quiet and then when the beep goes off, it's whoever gets in the water first has that jump. It's go time. Your mind goes blank. You get down when he says 'take your mark.' It seems forever but it's just one or two seconds. A lot of it has to do with coaching and practice. You do it so often that you do it all without thinking and you focus on winning."

Pircon entered this season full of expectations. He finished 10th in the 50-yard freestyle in 2008, had a good football season and was physically and mentally ready for his junior season.

Football? Yes, Marmion's top sprinter is also one of its football stars. And the two go together easier than you might think.

"I definitely worked hard," Pircon said. "I worked hard in football. My strength has definitely helped me out."

Between his football weight work, his in-season work with Marmion and additional training at Acceleration, a training facility in Naperville, Pircon has worked to reach peak performance.

"His football lifting is all about power and being explosive," Marmion coach Bill Schalz said. "That is exactly how you want 50 freestylers to train. And that has been our mantra this year, how to get these kids stronger."

Schalz sees Pircon's success in football and knows the talented athlete he has in his pool.

"(Pircon's) a football player that swims," Schalz said. "He makes a lot of technical mistakes. But he is very strong and very quick and he is a really aggressive racer."

There have been some highlights to the season. The first came at the Evanston Invitational, always the first massive meet in the New Year.

Marmion refers to the Evanston Invitational as "state before the state," where a number of Illinois' top teams compete at the school which hosts the state meet on alternating years. Pircon gave notice that he was a force with which to be reckoned in this year's meet when he won the title and outdueled Glenbrook South's Dominik Cubelic in the process.

Cubelic, a junior, finished fifth in the 50 freestyle last year and is the only of the Top 6 championship heat to return this season. He and Pircon could be dueling again at New Trier the weekend of Feb. 27-28 for the state title.

"Dominik Cubelic is a great swimmer and a great guy," Pircon said. "I really didn't see myself beating him. They were pretty slow times, but it was a great race. (Cubelic) said that if anyone had to beat him, he was glad it was me."

While Evanston may be "state before the state," it's still not the state meet. Pircon knows that his 21.96 winning time wouldn't have made the top 12 in the state meet.

But his in-season times have been dropping. He recently lowered his own pool record when he swam 21.53, just under the 21.59 he recorded a year ago.

"I expect him to go a lot faster," Schalz said.

Evanston Invitational victories or pool records won't mean anything at the state meet, and Pircon doesn't want to rest on any laurels.

"I want to get it out of my mind," Pircon said. "I want to feel like I lost at Evanston or that I got DQ'ed at Evanston so that I have to prove to someone that I deserve to be in the prelims and finals. I want to be the underdog in that situation."

There will be further competition in the race as well. Neuqua Valley's Kevin Overholt has reached 21.08 this year ­- though he also has the fastest times in the state in the 100 and 200 freestyle races, which have been the races in which he has competed in the past.

St. Charles North's Nick Smith was a state finalist last year and will be a very talented darkhorse. In short, the 50 freestyle will be a tough race, as usual.

Pircon's strength enables him to maintain his starting speed longer in the water. Even in the 50 freestyle, sprinters charge off the blocks and then swim slower in the second half of the race. As Schalz said, the winner isn't necessarily one who surged, but one who often simply maintained his 25-yard pace while the field loses momentum.

"When you see a great 50 freestyler and it looks like they're pulling away from the field, they're not," Schalz said. "They're maintaining their speed while everyone else is falling off. (Pircon) is a tremendous racer and he has a good aerobic capability that allows him to maintain that speed."

Pircon said he sees football as his forte and intends to concentrate on that next year, meaning he could be swimming his final state meet.

"I hope to go out with a bang, finish top three and swim the best race of my life," Pircon said. "I'm going to miss the 50 and miss the competition."

Marmion is one of a large number of teams with hopes of claiming a trophy at the state meet. New Trier and Neuqua Valley appear to be firm favorites to fight for the state title. But there are a half-dozen other teams with the potential to finish in the top three, if they perform well at the state meet.

"There may be that many teams with a chance to get a Top Three trophy at state," Pircon said. "Since my freshman year, we have struggled to get in our heads that we can finish in the top three. We had a great team last year that could have gone in the top three. But this year, I think we can actually win."