Boys swimming and diving: A state championship effort for Barrington's O'Leary

Griffin O'Leary is one of the top swimmers in the country.

He also may have a future in time management.

In Friday's state boys swimming prelims, the Barrington senior qualified for finals in the 100 butterfly and the 100 backstroke with, incredibly, identical times of 47.90.

Then on Saturday, O'Leary had to swim the two grueling championship heats - the butterfly and the back - in just about an hours time.

And after all was said and done, O'Leary was a state champion.

O'Leary won the backstroke in the time of 47.83 after finishing second in the fly, where he was just .39 behind winner Aleksej Filipovic of St. Charles North.

The meet was held for the first time at the FMC Natatorium in Westmont, a new, state-of-the-art facility.

"Normally my backstroke is a little faster than my fly," said O'Leary with a laugh, noting the equal qualifying times for both events.

"I knew I had a little room for my back after prelims. It's tough (to race the two events so close together), you've got to cool down quick and get ready for the next race. I'm just happy how everything turned out."

O'Leary trailed through much of the 100 back but used a ferocious kick in the final 25 to win the crown.

"As a freshman I got second, and as a sophomore I got second," said O'Leary. "That was the last time I had an opportunity, so I wanted to give it my all tonight. At the end (of the 100 back), all I was thinking about was all the training I put in."

Now O'Leary has next fall to think about, when he'll swim for University of Southern California, and will also look forward to the Olympic Trials in 2023.

"I'm thrilled to be able to go to USC, and work with the coaches," he said. "They're amazing, and I'm excited to see what I can do once I get there. I've set some goals, and it's going to be incredible."

Gavin Heard from Huntley had an outstanding tournament.

The senior won four events in the Athletes with Disabilities division - the 200 free (2:08.48), the 50 free (26.44), the 100 free (55.32) and the 100 breaststroke (1:11.04).

"It's so much different from regular meets, because it's more crowded and louder," Heard said. "It's a different atmosphere. It was intimidating."

Also excelling in the AWD events were senior Noah Thomas of Hersey (3rd in the breaststroke and 6th in the 100 free and 50 free), and sophomore Sean Grady from Fremd, who took third in the 50 free, fourth in the 200 free and the 100 free, and fifth in the 100 breaststroke.

Grady said that he was a "little bit nervous" entering his first state finals, but shook off the butterflies to make his mark in four events.

"It was a very exciting day," said Grady, who added that he's looking forward to his next two years on the swim team, as well as possibly competing on the water polo team.

"Sean is a very positive kid," said Vikings coach AJ Adams. "He's also very polite, very well-mannered, and the other guys on the team love to be around him."

Stevenson won the team title with 167 points.

Prospect senior Tim Hays took eighth in the 100 fly and 12th place in the 200 Individual Medley.

Holden Wheeler of Buffalo Grove, a junior, won the eighth-place medal in the diving competition, Ben Castro of Cary-Grove co-op finished fifth in the fly, while Jack Burke of Plainfield North co-op was sixth in the freestyle and ninth in the backstroke.

Freshman Lucas Bucaro of Barrington finished top 12 in the 500 free, and Schaumburg sophomore Szymon Mieczkowski did the same in the 100 back.

Jacob Gramer from the DeKalb-Sycamore co-op took the 11th place medal in the 100 free, and was ninth in the 50 free.

The Cary-Grove relay squads were seventh in the 200 medley and 10th in the 400 free relay.

Cary-Grove senior Ben Castro equaled his top-flight performance in Friday's preliminaries by finishing fifth in the 100 butterfly.

He also raced legs on the seventh-place 200 medley relay (1:34.67) and the meet-capping 400 freestyle relay, 10th in 3:08.59.

Of the 100 butterfly, Castro said, "It's the second day, so you're trying to tweak out whatever you did the first time. It was good."

Fremd sophomore Jaden Heinlein won the consolation championship in the 200 IM with a time of 1:51.06.

"Jaden is such a hard worker and such a fierce competitor," said Adams. "When he sets his mind that he wants to win, there's nothing that can stop him."

Heinlein said that he was happy with his placement Saturday, but is looking forward to more to come.

"This was progress," he said. "I did all that I could today, and winning back shows that I can do even bigger things if I put my mind to it."

Gregg Voss contributed to this story.