St. Charles North claims 1st DuKane title
A year ago, St. Charles North successfully achieved its goal to win the final Upstate Eight Conference boys swimming and diving title. Saturday, the goal was to be the first to earn the championship in the DuKane Conference - and the North Stars completed their task, earning the title ahead of closest competitor St. Charles East.
Conference swim meets are a test of patience and determination for varsity swimmers. The day belongs to the junior varsity swimmers, who are rested and tapered and who see great time drops in what is their final meet of the season. St. Charles North also won the DuKane junior varsity title.
"It's all about the junior varsity kids today and I couldn't be happier with the swims I saw from those guys. There were a lot of things there. We've got a lot of kids who were new to the program this year," St. Charles North coach Rob Rooney said.
Varsity swimmers are still in heavy training, though this week's poor weather led to cancellation of three days of school and left swimmers on their own to organize training as school practices were canceled.
"The whole week was screwy, with no school and kids out of rhythm and we swam well today," Rooney said. "We did what we wanted to do. We wanted to set things up for the next couple of meets."
The next competition for varsity athletes comes at the Feb. 16 IHSA sectionals. The St. Charles schools head to St. Charles North. Other DuKane schools at that meet include the Glenbard North-Glenbard East co-op, the Wheaton co-op. Lake Park heads to Lyons Township.
Even though he was unrested for the meet and the week's training was disrupted by the polar vortex, St. Charles North's William Myhre still had a meet to remember. He swam in four races and was involved in setting a pool record each time.
"When we didn't have practice, we couldn't practice with Rooney," Myhre said. "But we got some guys together and we worked out, whether in the pool or out of the pool. We did that because we all share a common goal and we know what we're working toward."
St. Charles North's 200-yard medley relay - Siba Filipovich, Brad Whitehurst, Nate Baxter and Myhre - swam 1:32.56. Myhre swam 44.63 in the 100 backstroke to break the 45.17 record he set on Jan. 4 at the East-North dual meet. Myhre anchored a 200 freestyle relay team that comprised Alec Filipovic, Baxter and Siba Filipovic. On that relay, Myhre split 19.79 for his leg, which is the fastest 50-yard freestyle in Norris Center pool history. Finally, Myhre won the 100 breaststroke in 54.50, again slightly lowering a record time that was already his.
"It's good to see where I'm at," Myhre said. "I don't swim expecting to win, but do I like to win? Yeah. Now we'll take a couple of weeks and assess what we need to do, and get ready to go and do it."
The thing is, the North Stars are far from a one-man team. In Alec Filipovic, St. Charles North has one of the state's most talented freshmen - and he won the 200 IM and the 100 butterfly. Siba Filipovic won the 100 backstroke. Ricky Williams claimed the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle, Charlie Williams took first in the 50 freestyle and the Filipovic brothers, Ricky Williams and Brad Whitehurst completed a sweep of the day's swimming events when they won the meet-ending 400 freestyle relay.
St. Charles East claimed the first title of the meet when Joe Scimeca won the diving portion of the meet, which took place on Friday night. On Saturday, the Saints had second-place finishes, proved they were ready to head into taper season and gained confidence from the success of the junior varsity team, which finished second.
"It's awesome to see these (younger) guys dropping times," St. Charles East senior Garrett Prybell said. "Connor Drury stepped up huge in the 200 (junior varsity) freestyle relay (21.54 split). We love seeing these guys swim fast because it gives us confidence. Patience is a big thing about it."
Prybell was fifth in the 200 IM and fourth in the 100 breaststroke.
"This season has been a grind and this is the time when you know your body will be there in the end - but you have to believe in yourself and believe in your team. Everything about the team aspect here is that we have each other's back and we have faith that each of us will do what we need to and to do it when it matters," Prybell said.
Among second-place finishers was Matt Nagler, who was runner-up to Myhre in the 100 freestyle.
"Time-wise, we're right where we need to be," St. Charles East coach Adam Musial said. "It's a matter now of me deciding when it's time to let them go. This meet today was all about our JV and open race kids, who we knew would bring the energy. The varsity kids had to push through and it's the hardest thing for some of them to do."
Lake Park finished third in the meet and had its best finish when Ben Kimmel led midway through the 100 backstroke and placed second. Kimmel also finished second in the 200 IM.
"St. Charles North just swam out of their mind today, but yeah, Ben Kimmel did some good things," Lake Park coach Dan Witteveen said. "Everything he wanted to do was what he did today. He's on track for state and hopefully we can get a relay down too."
The Wheaton co-op's best finishes came from Patrick White, who was third in the 200 freestyle and third again in the 100 freestyle. Mitchell Hogan was third in the 50 freestyle. Glenbard co-op's best finish came from Alex Mack, who was sixth in the 500 freestyle.