Gold-medal efforts at Barrington

The wide array of sports being contested at Barrington High School on Saturday almost gave the campus the feel you'd find at a Olympic-style winter sports festival.

Sectional wrestling over here, basketball over there - and down this hallway, the Mid-Suburban League boys swimming and diving championships.

And in the pool, the host Broncos ended up celebrating a successful defense of their MSL team title, emerging on top in a finish that was much more tightly grouped than usual.

Barrington won with 233 points, followed closely by Fremd (218). Rolling Meadows (183) turned in its highest-ever finish in third place, with Palatine (169) taking a big jump up as well to fourth.

And, as in any good festival, there was diversity of achievement.

Start with Elk Grove senior Colin Williams, who produced dominant wins in both the 200-yard freestyle (1:44.11) and 100 fly (50.58). Both were season-best times by a wide margin.

"I came in knowing I needed to have a good 200 today," said Williams, who qualified to the state meet in both events last year. "There was no shortage of motivation. I knew I needed to get myself into position for next week, and I feel like I got that done."

Grens coach Keith Kura was pleasantly surprised by the times in both of Williams' individual races and noted that Williams' two leadoff relay legs - 22.02 on the 200 free relay and 47.99 in the 400 free relay - also would have been winning times in those events.

"At one point, I was thinking, 'Maybe he's even a little bit too fresh today,' " said Kura. "But then I talked to him and he assured me that he's still swimming tired. So I think it's just a case of him really being ready to go."

Put Rolling Meadows senior Jake Barson definitively in that same ready-to-go category.

In addition to winning the 100 breaststroke in a lifetime best 58.07, Barson placed second in the 200 IM (1:57.05) and had legs on two winning relays. He joined Filip Pancerz, Tony Sarussi and Kuba Debkowski on the medley (1:38.07). In the 200 free relay (1:29.60) it was Debkowski, Sarussi, Barson and Josh Dellorto.

"We so, so far exceeded what we thought we could do today," said Barson. "We knew, having won the East, that we'd have a chance to place well here. But in the MSL, there are so many great athletes from so many teams, it's hard to know how it'll go."

It sure helped to have a sprinter such as Debkowski, a junior. He won the 50 free in 22.04 and got the third-place 400 free relay off to a great start with a leadoff leg of 48.87.

Dellorto, a freshman, was second in the 200 free (1:46.23) and fourth in the 500 (4:54.06). Filip Pancerz cracked the top six in the 100 back (56.26).

With seven team records established along with a best-ever MSL finish, Meadows coach Monika Chiappetta was pleased to know her team had achieved at the level she thought it could.

And yes, the good-natured ribbing she received from meet officials asking that drug tests be administered to Rolling Meadows' swimmers is another sign that the swimming world has noticed the Mustangs' dramatic improvement.

"We have plenty to work on, and some lineup decisions to make for the sectional," Chiappetta said, "but it was great to see our guys meet the challenge today."

Fremd's challenge was to generate big points without any wins in swimming events.

Zach Mega and Chase Jauch gave the Viking a big boost in diving. Mega, a freshman, won with a score of 433, and Jauch was fifth at 353.10.

But in the swimming events, Fremd got it done with relentless consistency, especially in the latter half of the meet. Second-place finishes in both freestyle relays. Two top-six efforts in the 500 free (Arnas Maciunas, Alex Schillinger). Top-six senior efforts in the backstroke from Andrew Mueller, in the breaststroke from Austin Yurasek and in the fly from Dylan Assmann.

Senior Roshan Rajan was second in both his individual races, the 50 free (22.64) and 100 free (49.45).

The MSL West champs may have even surprised themselves by how close they came to catching Barrington.

"For a team that maybe wasn't expected to do a lot here, I thought it turned out fabulously," said Fremd coach Kristen Newby. "I'm proud of our guys because we had a couple of letdowns early. They made a conscious decision to overcome that."

Hersey's top highlights came from freshman Michael Petro, who held off Barson to win the 200 IM in 1:56.50. He also finished third in the 100 fly (52.37) and is poised for a big finish to his first high school season.

Wheeling placed fifth, its second straight upper-division finish. The Wildcats got big points from Jake Noel, who was second in the 100 back and third in the 200 IM; from Kyle Noel, who was third in the 100 free and fifth in the IM; and from Nate Reiff, third in the 200 free and fourth in the 100 breast. Those three, joined by Justin Loquercio, also excelled in the medley and 400 freestyle relays.

Prospect placed sixth and had its top efforts from senior Sam Gabriel, in the 100 back (third) and 50 free (fourth).

Hoffman Estates senior Joe Smiley took top honors in the 100 free (49.44).

"Really surprised, in a nice way," said Smiley. "The main thing for me was to see if I could get closer to the state cut, so it worked out well."

Palatine enjoyed a consistent start-to-finish performance.

Jake Klein (200 free, 500 free), Marcus Carter-Buckman (100 free, 100 back) and Alex Bartosik (200 IM, 100 breast) each broke into the top six individually twice. All three Palatine relays also made the top six, and the Pirates saved their best for last with the winning 400 free relay. Klein, Carter-Buckman, Oleksiy Korniychuk and Bartosik prevailed in a tightly packed final heat in 3:17.47.

"I told our guys beforehand, don't pay any attention to the seed times in this one," said Carter-Buckman, who earlier got below 50 seconds for the first time in a flat-start 100 free in a fourth-place finish and also finished fourth in the 100 back. "This 400 free relay is about who wants it more."

Bartosik answered by providing a 47.97 anchor leg.

But Barrington ended up having just a bit too much talent, evenly distributed throughout the meet, for anyone else to match.

Mitch Gavars and Jeremy Kleinjan gave the Broncos a big boost with a 1-2 finish in the 500 free.

Colin O'Leary won the 100 back (52.92) and was second in the 100 fly (52.57), and Colin Cross was second in the 100 breast and fourth in the 200 IM.

John Lagoni (100 and 200 free), Andrew Fish (50 free, 100 fly) and Chase Lesniak (200 IM, 100 breast) each placed in the top six twice.

And both Barrington freestyle relays far exceeded their best times this seasons. Coach John Valentine pointed out Max Gersten, who split 49.74 on the 400 relay, as the kind of swimmer who helped shore up what had been an area of concern.

That's not to say the Broncos were entirely satisfied.

"There are definitely some details we can improve on," said Cross, a junior. "Our relay starts, for sure ... but I think everybody was ready to race, and that's the main thing today."