Boys swimming and diving / Scouting the Mid-Suburban League meet

Boys swimming and diving / Scouting the Mid-Suburban League meet

DivingWhen: 9 a.m. Saturday at Barrington

Outlook: A nice group of top athletes has emerged in MSL diving. One thing's certain - the top finishers won't be a repeat of last year, as champion Mat Sigler of Schaumburg, runner-up Joe Kraemer of Elk Grove and fourth-place finisher Adam Maslowski were seniors. The top returning competitor is sophomore Cole Aykroid of Conant, who was third last season. But expect plenty of competition for the top spots. Prospect senior Stephen Smith and sophomore Anthony Liva have been strong all year. Likewise for Fremd's Zach Mega and Chase Jauch, Hersey's Riley Busche, Buffalo Grove's Jack Delattre and Palatine's Dylan Wilken.

SwimmingWhen: 1 p.m. Saturday at Barrington

Defending champ: Barrington

Outlook: The signs point to Barrington being able to repeat as conference meet champ, but how the Broncos go about trying to accomplish that - and how the rest of the top eight or nine shakes out - will be great fun for anybody who enjoys watching great competition. East Division champ Rolling Meadows will certainly be near the top in the picture along with West champion Fremd. Last year's runner-up, Wheeling, again is better suited to the championship format than duals and therefore will again be a major player. The same holds true for Hoffman Estates and Elk Grove, who will be able to do some significant scoreboard-denting, both individually and with relays. Prospect and Hersey will both have several chances at winning performances, while Palatine brings a balanced lineup with all three relays seeded in finals and two strong entrants in individual events.

Top seeds200 medley relay - Barrington (O'Leary, Cross, Fish, Gavars) 1:39.77

200 free - John Lagoni (Barrington) 1:47.57

200 IM - Michael Petro (Hersey) 1:57.91

50 free - Kuba Debkowski (Rolling Meadows) 22.19

100 fly - Colin Williams (Elk Grove) 52.27

100 free - Kyle Noel (Wheeling) 49.97

500 free - Mitch Gavars (Barrington) 4:46.34

200 free relay - Fremd (Yurasek, Nicholas, Benjamin, Nevins) 1:30.53

100 back - Sam Gabriel (Prospect) 53.31

100 breast - Barson (Rolling Meadows) 59.14

400 free relay - Rolling Meadows (Debkowski, Sarussi, Pancerz, Dellorto) 3:19.00

Team conceptBarrington: Has three relays seeded in the top six, including the best medley ... With Gavars and Jeremy Kleinjan, Broncos are the only team to have the top two seeds in an event (500 free) ... Sophomore Colin O'Leary is the second seed in both the 100 back and 100 fly; John Lagoni is No. 2 in the 200 free and Colin Cross is No. 2 in the 100 breast and No. 3 in the 200 IM. And generally, Barrington has the best second-swimmer depth in the conference.

Buffalo Grove: Top-12 seeds include Mark Poirer (50 free, 100 fly), Liam Boubouleix (200 free).

Conant: No final-heat competitors, but several in the top 12, including Tim Song (breast), Kevin Courtney (fly) and Jacob Lawson (500).

Elk Grove: Defending conference champ Colin Williams has top seed in the fly and is No. 2 in the 200 free ... Grens' freestyle relays are poised for nice finishes.

Hersey: Michael Petro (IM, fly) and Paul Kim (50 free, 100 breast) will generate big individual points. Kristiyan Donov could score in the backstroke, and the Huskies' will hope for big efforts from the medley and 400 free relays.

Hoffman Estates: Bartosz Widelak and Joe Smiley seeded 2-4 in the 50 free; Smiley No. 3 in 100 free. Plenty of 7-12 scoring opportunities, especially from Jacob Pasaye, plus excellent 200 relays.

Fremd: Has top 200 free relay seed and final-heat swimmers in Roshan Rajan, Austin Yurasek, Arnas Maciunas and Joey Carlisle. Great overall depth leaves open the possibility of some moving-up, tapered-swim surprises.

Palatine: Alex Bartosik and Oleksiy Korniychuk in last heat of both 200 IM and 100 breast ... Marcus Carter-Buckman in last heat of 100 free, 100 back ... Jake Klein in last heat of 200 free and 500 free; Adam Smith in last heat of 500. All relays seeded in top six, with additional individual point-scoring chances in Jordan Kalina (100 fly, 50 free), Jacob Baron (50 free, 100 free), Ryan Schlaiss (back).

Prospect: Senior Sam Gabriel has emerged as dominant in not only the backstroke, but the sprints as well, with final-heat spots in the 100 back and 50 free. He'll elevate the Knights' medley and 400 free relays. Also swimming in final heat is senior Michael Morikado (fly), and Prospect can bank on significant diving points along with lots of 7-12 swimming finishes.

Rolling Meadows: Mustangs have two top seeds (Barson, Debkowski) with what is their most promising team under coach Monika Chiappetta, along with three superb relays and significant points from Filip Pancerz (fly, back), Josh Dellorto (200 and 500 free) ... Barson also in final heat of 200 IM ... other individual points likely from Jake Pors, Kamil Halaj, David Myers.

Schaumburg: Saxons' top seed is Evan Wahlen in the 500 free (7th) ... Sam Thomas ninth seed in 100 breast.

Wheeling: Has a returning MSL champ in Jake Noel (IM, back); Kyle Noel top seed in 100 free and figures to score in 200 IM ... Nate Reiff in last heat of both 200 free and 100 breast ... loaded-up medley and 400 free relays should excel.

- Aaron Gabriel