Libertyville swimmers stay perfect in duals

The Libertyville boys swimming team capped a regular season to remember Thursday against visiting Mundelein on Senior Night.

The Wildcats ran their NSC dual meet record to 6-0 with a 113-73 victory. Libertyville can secure the outright league title if it wins the NSC Conference Meet on Feb. 9 at Vernon Hills.

"Going undefeated was one of our goals coming into the season," senior Danny LeJeune said. "We really committed to it."

Libertyville got off to a fast start with early-season victories over perennial powers Stevenson and Lake Forest.

"It's a long time since this has been done," coach Chris Wetteland said. "This is a real big thing for our program."

Although Libertyville won fairly easily, the Mustangs performed to their potential. Mundelein closed the meet by winning the final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay. The relay of Patrick Falconer, Zach Purol, Ricky Lukacs and Kevin Coughlin (3:20.87) out-touched Libertyville (3:21.71).

Individually, Falconer, a sophomore, placed first in the 200 freestyle. His time of 1:47.27 put him ahead of Libertyville's Ben Glick (1:47.56).

"It was great for him mentally to win," coach Rachel Abel said. "Now, he knows he can swim with the big boys."

Wetteland, who coached at Mundelein last year, is not surprised with Falconer's ascension.

"I told my guys to be (ready) for Pat," he said. "He's swimming so well and had a very smart race. I expect him to get under the state cut at sectionals."

Coughlin had an easy victory in the 50 freestyle (22.67). The Mustangs also received a strong performance from first-place diver David Rieck (168.90). Libertyville's Tony Fillippo was second (143.95).

"We had some surprisingly fast swims for kids who haven't started tapering yet," Abel said.

The best race of the day was probably the 200 individual medley. LeJeune (2:05.41) needed a strong final 50 yards to hold off Lukacs (2:05.63). Lukacs shaved three seconds off his previous best.

"Ricky had a heck of a race; it was pretty close the whole time," LeJeune said. "He was keeping up with me so I really had to turn it on at the end and go all out."

Junior Andrew Tillman cruised in the 500 freestyle with a personal best time of 5:09.67. Libertyville sophomore Chris Marr placed second (5:19.86).

"I didn't think I was going to go that fast," Tillman said. "(Wetteland) kept pushing me to race faster, and I did what he said. My time really surprised me."

Girls basketball

Lake Zurich 55, Libertyville 49 (OT):ŒOlivia Allen scored 7 of her game-high 18 points in overtime, as the visiting Bears won the North Suburban Lake Division makeup game.

Peggie Parhas and Audrey Bauer added 16 and 13 points, respectively, for Lake Zurich (19-9, 6-5). Bauer scored 4 points in OT.

Libertyville (11-15, 3-9) received 13 points from Maka Stewart and 12 from Ali Haws. Dana Eriksen had 8.

North Chicago 57, Vernon Hills 54: Raven Snowden had 19 points for the host Warhawks in the North Suburban Prairie Division contest.

Vernon Hills (10-16, 5-6) was led in scoring by Mallory Feece with 11 points. Kelly Nagle and Amy Burton had 9 and 8, respectively, for the Cougars.

Rosary 66, St. Edward 47:ŒSenior Night turned into rebounding night for Rosary's girls basketball team Thursday night.

Rebounding from a 13-12 first-quarter deficit, the Royals outscored St. Edward 41-16 over the middle two quarters on their way to a 66-47 Suburban Catholic Conference girls basketball triumph in Aurora.

While securing a second-place finish in the SCC with the victory, the Royals also decisively won the rebounding battle, 50-26.

"Rebounding was the thing that we missed the most tonight on both ends of the floor," said Green Wave coach Michelle Dawson. "They were getting too many second-chance shots. We were getting one look at the basket and we were done."

Trailing 15-12 in the opening seconds of the second quarter, the Royals responded with a 21-2 run to take control of the game.

"I thought we went out with a lot of excitement and then we were just like, 'now we really have to get back to business,'" said Kylie Schalz, one of five Rosary seniors playing their final regular-season game on their homecourt.

Victoria Alvarez (10 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 6 steals) and Jordan Rettig (game-high 20 points, 10 rebounds) combined for 14 second-quarter points as the Royals grabbed a 33-19 halftime advantage.

"In the second quarter, I really thought we picked it up a bit," said Royals coach Dave Beebe. "And in the third quarter, we went on a nice run to put it away."

After a 3-point play from Katie Yohn (14 points) and Kelly Knott's 3-point basket helped the Green Wave (10-11, 6-7) whittle the deficit to 41-29 midway through the third quarter, the Royals scored 12 unanswered points to expand their lead to 53-29 heading into the final period.

In addition to Rettig and Alvarez, seniors Faith Jones and Colleen Van Bogaert reached double figures with 13 points apiece, while Schalz added 6 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.

"My main thing this season has been trying to get as many rebounds as I can," said Schalz, the Royals' leading rebounder for the season. "That's what I try to do as a senior."

"The most important thing for us tonight was not to let the whole Senior Night festivities thing get to us," said Jones. "We just needed to relax and calm down."

In the process, the Royals (20-5, 12-2) also tied a school record with their 20th victory.

"We tied it and we've still got Plainfield (Central) next week with regionals and sectionals, too," said Beebe.

"I was really happy for the seniors. You couldn't have asked for a much better game than this."

Celeste Von Ahnen led St. Edward with 18 points and 8 rebounds.

-- Craig Brueske

Boys basketball

Burlington Central 84, Marengo 53: Mike McCurdy hit for 32 points as the Rockets (14-5, 5-1) rolled over Marengo in the Big Northern East. Senior Jason Wagner (20 points) and Shane Larkin (14 points) also contributed to the victory.

Hampshire 59, Harvard 52: The Whip Purs (11-9, 5-2) defeated Harvard in the Big Northern East. T. J. Burzak led Hampshire with 19 points. James Goebbert also added 13 points to the board to help lead the Whip Purs to victory.