Barrington's O'Leary aims for more fun on Day 2
They say half the fun is in getting there.
For Barrington junior Colin O'Leary, however, the point of the high school boys swimming and diving state meet was to advance past the first-day preliminaries and into the championship finals.
That's exactly what O'Leary did Friday in the meet held at Evanston Township High School by finishing 12th in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 50.97 seconds in Friday's session. In doing so, he edged Wheeling senior Nate Reiff from Day 2 action - Reiff finished 13th in 51.03, and will be an alternate when the meet resumes at noon Saturday.
In fact, O'Leary was the only Mid-Suburban League entrant - individual or relay - to advance to championship action.
"I'm happy that I was able to make it back," O'Leary said. "I had hoped for better results, but I'm happy with what happened.
"The actual swimming part was good, I was happy with that," he said of his 100 butterfly. "My start was probably one of the worst starts I've had. I thought they were going to tell me to step down, so I sort of held there a second longer than I should have. But I still made 12th."
After O'Leary, Barrington got a strong effort from junior Mitch Gavars, who finished 17th in the 500 freestyle (4:39.95), and fellow junior John Lagoni, 21st in the 200 freestyle (1:44.17) and 26th in the 100 freestyle (47.77 seconds).
But outside of O'Leary - who also finished 13th in the 100 backstroke with a time of 51.83 and thus will be an alternate in that event Saturday - it was a tough day for the Mid-Suburban League. The only other alternate was Fremd's 200 freestyle relay team of junior Nick Nevins, senior Kenny Benjamin, junior Arnas Maciunas and sophomore Danny Konishi, who improved on their sectional effort and finished 13th in 1:27.05.
"The fact that we came in and dropped time and had a good swim in that relay is really what they're going for," said Fremd coach Kristen Newby.
Fremd came close to advancing junior Nick Seroni in the 100 butterfly; he was 16th (51.21). And Nevins tied with Stevenson's Topher Stensby for 21st in the 50 freestyle (21.85 seconds).
"I will tell you after today, our kids are so hungry for next year," Newby said. "We had one senior here today and that's it, so we are a young squad and we get to bring back so much of what we did."
It was a hard-luck day for Wheeling's Reiff, who as an alternate isn't likely to swim Saturday but has to be ready just in case there is a late scratch. He finished 18th in the 100 breaststroke (58.57 seconds), but the toughest pill to swallow as the 200 medley relay. In that event, he left the starting block a little too early, leading to his team's disqualification.
"You come with such high expectations to these meets and then something just happens … I don't know, just kind of drops the bar," Reiff said. "I dropped time, but I didn't perform as well. Our first relay was slow and we just kind of took that attitude and went with it."
"Nate dropped time in the fly and the breast and 13th is a just really a tough one, to miss the finals, but dropping time at the state meet, that was great for him," said his coach, Tod Schwager.
Wheeling also got a solid swim from senior Jake Noel, who placed 23rd in the 100 backstroke (53.16 seconds).
Palatine's top performer was senior Marcus Carter-Buckman, who lived up to his nickname, "Hammer," by finishing 19th in the 100 backstroke. He also raced the second leg of the 400 freestyle relay, which finished 22nd in 3:12.64.
"He had a wonderful day," said Palatine coach John Schauble. "Marcus had the best swims of any of our athletes - best time in the 100 backstroke and best time in the 400 free relay. He made the national cut in the backstroke, which is very cool."
"His 100 back was incredible," said senior Oleksiy Korniychuk of Carter-Buckman's effort. "We were in awe. He had dropped a second tapering for sectionals and he dropped another second off that time."
"I went in, I figured it was the last time I would swim the 100 back for my high school," Carter-Buckman said.
In the 1-meter diving competition, Prospect junior Anthony Liva took 18th place with 192.60 points - and just 2.05 points from advancing to Saturday's championship finals.
"Anthony is very critical of everything he does, so he thought he probably could have done a little bit better, but 18th is a really a good showing," said Prospect coach Alfonso Lopez. "He was 2 points off. Being that close is a motivation for next year."
Conant's Cole Aykroid, who got on a major roll late in the season, was 19th with 192 points, while Buffalo Grove's Jack Delanttre was 23rd with 181.80 points.
• Sickness was one of the top opponents for area swimmers Friday.
Take Palatine junior Alex Bartosik, for example, who battled strep throat, a double ear infection, and a high fever all week.
Didn't matter much Friday, though. He logged a 1:57.16 in the 200-yard individual medley, good for 26th place. Later, he raced the anchor on the Palatine's 400 freestyle relay, which took 22nd in 3:12.64.
"Everyone was telling me I was an animal inside," Bartosik said, who added he was slightly disappointed he didn't advance to Saturday's championship finals. "If I wasn't sick I had full potential to advance. Sickness put me back a little."
Then there was St. Viator sophomore Michael Balcerak, who battled the flu this week but still managed to take 22nd in the 100 freestyle with a time of 47.43 seconds. He also took 31st in the 200 freestyle (1:47.57).
What's more, his coach, Jamie Klotz, had a 102-degree fever Friday and wasn't able to make the trip to Evanston. Instead, assistant Tiffany Barson coached him.
"The first day of my flu I had a temperature of 103.6," Balcerak lamented glumly. "I did expect to not make it, but I swam my heart out in that 100. I just put all my marbles in the jar for that race."
• Fremd's Nick Seroni made his debut at the state meet, and used it as a learning experience. Having never been there before, he did he prepare mentally?
"I would sit down and kind of imagine in my head what it would look like," he said. "I looked at previous Evanston meets and kind of got that in my head, but even then it was quite a different feeling."
Seroni made a solid debut at state, taking 16th in the 100 butterfly (51.21 seconds).
• The mental part of swimming can be the toughest part to master. Consider Rolling Meadows sophomore Josh Dellorto, in his second trip to state, who finished 34th in the 200 freestyle (1:49.15). What was the hardest part?
"Probably nerves," Dellorto said.
"We work so hard on his stroke mechanics, that we now have to work on that stuff, the race stuff," said his coach, Monika Chiapetta, pointing to her head.
• DeKalb senior Dan Hein had the day's only state record, in the 100 backstroke. The Missouri-bound standout became the first Illinois swimmer to swim it in under 48 seconds in the event, qualifying to finals in 47.97.
Peoria Notre Dame, Hinsdale Central, Naperville Central and Lyons Township are best positioned to battle it out for a state title in the team standings Saturday.