Big breakthrough for Vernon Hills
From hugs to heartbreak, the gamut of emotions were on their usual display Saturday afternoon in the Vernon Hills boys swimming sectional meet.
As far as the hugs, there were plenty to go around, especially after Vernon Hills' junior Brian Rabinowitz had just finished second in the 100-yard backstroke and qualified for next weekend's state meet at New Trier.
"I just missed in the previous three events today, but this definitely makes up for it," said Rabinowitz, who swam a 53.50. "It feels great to finally end the drought. I was a little worried coming in, but I just trusted my training. I'd love to get a 53 or lower (at state)."
The drought Rabinowitz mentioned refers to a four-year absence since Vernon Hills has had a state qualifier in boys swimming.
"It does feel great to qualify and represent my school," reflected senior Conrad Kocoj, who will join his running mate in Winnetka after qualifying in two events. "I was a little more serious and trained harder this past year. We do visualization techniques in our training and that helps prevent errors, from making good turns and things like that."
Kocoj ended up second in the 50 free (21.49) and fourth in the 100 free (47.74). Both were season-best times. As a team, Vernon Hills finished fifth out of 12 teams with 152 points.
Some of the heartbreak part of the equation happened with Libertyville, which still had a solid meet in finishing second with 226 points.
In the very first event of the afternoon, the 200 medley relay team of Noah Jamison, Mark Boynton, Justin Fu, and Eric Turner finished second with a time of 1:37.96. The state standard was 1:37.95.
"That was saddening and heartbreaking," said Libertyville senior and Princeton-bound Matt Harrington. "After we just missed, I just tried to help motivate the guys and build up the team dynamic."
Harrington, no stranger to state having excelled there multiple times since freshman year, erased some of the sting by finishing second in the very next event, the 200 freestyle. His time of 1:40.06 was a school record and a season-best effort. Harrington also qualified in the 100 butterfly with a time of 49.74, and he will join Fu, Turner and Jamison on the winning 200 freestyle relay (1:26.63) and on the 400 freestyle relay, where they were second (3:10.69).
Libertyville also had two strong efforts in diving. Jacob Reichert was third with 362.10 points and Robert Fisher fourth at 340.50. Lake Forest's Alexander Streightiff won the diving event with a pool record 534.80 points, while John-Michael Diveris was second with 473.30.
Speaking of the Scouts, Lake Forest took charge from the get-go and wound up winning seven events en route to 276 points and the sectional title.
The Scouts had multiple event qualifiers, including sophomore Dylan Boyd, who won the 200-freestyle with a pool, conference, and personal-best time of 1:39.42. He also qualified by finishing second in the 100-butterfly in a personal best 51.14.
"I woke up not stressed, and felt pretty good in the water," said Boyd, who also earned a trip to Winnetka by joining forces with Daniel Smith, Symen Ooms and Michael LeMay for the winning 200 medley (1:36.83) and 400 freestyle relays (3:10.36). Ooms, LeMay, and Smith qualified in multiple individual events as well.
Mundelein will send one qualifier to state in junior Mike Ward, who finished fourth in the 100 backstroke (53.54).
"To see where we started to where we are now is awesome," said Mustangs coach Rahul Sethna. "The progress and development has been fun to watch, and we are continuing to drop our times."
Grayslake North will have a return state qualifier from a year ago in senior and Missouri State-bound Brenden Bolman, who won the 100 backstroke in 51.27, and followed that by taking second in the 100 freestyle in 47.14.
"The 100 freestyle was a little tougher than I expected but I just let it loose," said Bolman, who swims club for Cats Aquatics and was 10th in the 50 freestyle at state a year ago.
There was also plenty of inspiration on Saturday when Highland Park senior Alan Brint qualified in four events for athletes with disabilities.
Legally blind, Brint will make the trip to state in the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle and 100 breaststroke.
"This is fantastic. I've been lowering my times all year," he said. "I love the atmosphere and love representing my team and school."
The state meet commences Friday with the swimming preliminaries starting at 3:30 p.m., followed by the finals at noon Saturday.