Boys swimming: Fremd better than Palatine on Pirates' senior night
There were a lot of things to be excited about at the final boys swimming meet before Christmas break.
After a grueling week of tough practices and final examinations, the boys at Palatine celebrated their senior class at its final home meet of the season. Likewise Fremd, led by first-year head coach Andrew Kittrell, was ready to race its hometown rival despite some serious aches and pains.
The Vikings finished the meet with a score of 108.5 while the Pirates were not far behind with a score of 75.5. This meet came down to depth and the Vikings certainly showed their lineup's versatility.
The Vikings were also missing a few key varsity swimmers, like Yoochan Lee in the stroke events, but proved they had the determination and depth to maintain a strong lead throughout the meet and hold onto second and third places.
The 200-yard medley relay team of James Steininger, Ethan Schillinger, Max Li, and Alex Reed posted an impressive time of 1:43.52 and helped set the tone for the rest of the meet.
Li and Reed would contribute to the sprint free events, claiming victories in the 50 and 100-yard freestyles, respectively. Li swam his 50 in 23.94 with Reed posting a time of 52.69 in his 100.
In diving, Vikings Brennan Barrett and Christian Zukowski dominated the boards with both divers breaking scores of 200. Barrett scored an impressive 234.10 with Zukowski not far behind with a score of 204.10.
The 200 free A relay team of Reed, Koki Yoshikawa, Joshua Lichtenwalter, and Li (1:35.30) and the B relay team of Brandon Vera, Justin Chen, Rigden Atsatang, and Sean Warner claimed a massive 1-2 victory, helping establish the Vikings' dominance in the second half of the meet.
Steininger would go on to win the backstroke with a time of 58.45, further proving just how strong the back half of the Vikings' lineup was.
Another one-two victory in the breaststroke by Schillinger (1:05.08) and Kevin Han (1:05.35) assured the Vikings would be victorious in this crosstown classic.
"It's been a long week for most of the athletes so it's nice to finish with a meet against friends," Kittrell said. "The boys are both mentally and physically exhausted, but everyone came out to race and had some fun as well."
Palatine was also missing some key members in its roster, such as key varsity middle-distance free and stroke swimmer Henry Gabriel.
The Pirates had many event winners and showed some impressive swims. Stefan Filip won both the 200-yard free (1:53.72) and 500 free (5:07.68), while teammate Christian Snyder won the 200-yard I.M. (2:05.02) and the 100 butterfly (54.59).
"We know what it feels like to have a rough week and we'll know how to incorporate what we've learned into the next meet," said Filip. "I had some rough swims, but I pulled it together and posted some all right times."
Coach Katie Mroz was proud of her team for maintaining a positive attitude and swimming the competition throughout the meet. While Palatine will be on the road the rest of the season, Mroz sees the advantages to being away from home.
"We have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable, especially when we're on different decks during the championship season," said Mroz. "I'm really happy with where we are in the season and we're going to continue to be ourselves."