Boys swimming: Scouting Fox and DuPage County
Hinsdale Central coach Bob Barber would like to finish one spot higher at the state meet this year.
The Red Devils, second a year ago, must replace graduated seniors Braxton Bokos, Connor Furlong, Dmitry Shvydkoy and Sam Daw.
The top swimmer back is sophomore Josh Bey who was second in the 100 breaststroke.
Top state finishers back are juniors Andrew Gilbert (fifth 50 free style), Jeffrey Hou (seventh butterfly, eighth 200 intermediate) and Nate Harris (10th 500 freestyle, 11th 200 intermediate).
State qualifiers back are seniors Andrew Fix, Sam Kassir and Noah Priest along with juniors Brody Marcet and Nojus Bertallis. Other returners are senior Vidar Carlbaum and sophomore Henry Guo. Newcomer freshman Matt Vatev hopes to make a splash.
“We need to improve on performances from last year,” said Barber. “We have our work cut out for us. We need a full team buy-in.”
Benet, under the guidance of Nelly Musso, returns two state qualifiers in seniors Jack Larson (23rd 50 freestyle, 27th 100 freestyle) and Brendan Smith (19th 100 breaststroke). Others back are senior Jack Hansen and junior Jacob Junkins. Newcomers are sophomores Harlan Apple and Aiden Hallett.
Cary-Grove junior Drew Watson enjoyed an exceptional sophomore season. He finished in top 15 in four events at last year's state meet. He was seventh in 200 medley, 10th 400 freestyle, 13th 100 backstroke and 15th 200 intermediate. Kaspars Vensaluskas was seventh in the 50 breastroke and Dexter Zielenski was 10th in the 400 freestyle.
The others returning for the Trojans are senior Daniel Sanaharsky, juniors Connor Chan and Brendan Baser and sophomores Noah Brereton and Victor Praczkowski. Newcomers include freshmen Mason Gaylord, Oliver Rupniewski and Charles Edwards. The Trojans were 14th in the state a year ago.
The co-op is made up of swimmers from Cary-Grove, Crystal Lake South, Crystal Lake Central and Prairie Ridge.
“We want to finish in the Top 10,” said coach Scott Lattyak. “We want to improve from last year.”
Downers Grove North state qualifiers back seniors Andy Cameron, Aiden Musso and Harry Platt and junior Ethan Weingast.
Others with experience are seniors Dan Pocius and Steve Wilhelm along with juniors Austin Phillip and Ethan Rogers and sophomore Ben Cameron.
“We have a great group of returning upperclassmen,” coach Kellie Logterman. “We want return to state.”
Downers Grove South seniors Aras Buozious and Jacob Selig along with junior Scott Conley and sophomores Aidan Meyer and Sean Noller are back for the Mustangs.
“We want to win conference (West Suburban) and show improvment from our young swimmers,” said coach Bryan Szweda.
Elgin junior Alex Xayachanla and sophomore Jacob Leesch are back for the Maroons.
“We are growing as a program,” said coach Mike Slowik. “Our numbers are up.”
Fenton senior Ryan Peterson along with juniors Hyland Sterling, John Contreras and Max Bis and sophomore Karol Modelski return.
“We hope our young men will steadily improve as the season goes on,” said coach Dan Hennebry.
Glenbard East/North co-op seniors Jack Parkin, Joe Luedtke and Ethan Calleros are back.
“We have a young team and we are focusing on technique and stroke development,” said coach Tyler Buss. “We want to inspire our swimmers to push themslves.”
Glenbard West/South co-op juniors Luke Wyrick and Nick Petrun are back. Newcomers include sophomore Drew Dennenberg and freshman Mason Flaherty.
“We want to develop underclassmen,” said coach Marc Beard. “We want to build the groundwork to score at the state meet,”
Hinsdale South is paced by sophomore Parker Chan, who was 16th in the 500 freestyle.
Others returning are seniors Andrew Henn and Will Brewster along with juniors Lukas Simkus and Jack Roh and sophomore Andrew Peterson.
“We have a young team and a new pool,” said coach Elizabeth Walker. “We have a great team atmosphere. We want to have fun with focus.”
Huntley is led by senior Ben Rocks, who was 15th in the 100 freestyle. Seniors Michael Boelens, Yehan Subasinghe and Dominic Siwiec return to work with sophomore newcomers Szymon Osadruk and Owen Dossie and junior Carter Yonamine.
IMSA, which co-ops with Yorkville, returns six swimmers from last season. They include Alex Ward (Yorkville), Nathan Brodsky (IMSA), Aiden Knutson (Yorkville), Tim Campbell (Yorkville), Mattson Uhlenhopp (Yorkville) and Conor Craddock (IMSA).
“We want better finishes from by our top swimmers at the conference and sectional meet.” said coach Cori Knutson.
Jacobs, who co-ops with Hampshire and Dundee-Crown, has four returning swimmers including juniors Pavlo Komarov and Charlie Mason along with sophomores Luke Johnson and Gabe Niemi. All attend Jacobs.
“We want a cohesive team and utilize the skills from the swimmers from all three schools,” said coach Molly Gomberg. “We want major improvement throughout the season.”
Lake Park, coached by Dan Witteveen, will be led by senior Jacob Drozd who was third in the state in 50 freestyle. Other state quailfiers back are juniors Alex Grodecki and Dominick Perkowski. Returners to the pool are seniors Cameron Birk, Kasper Mioduszewski and Adrian Coric. Newcomers hoping to contribute are freshmen Matt Karasek and Lars Patkowa.
Metea Valley senior Jaedden Gamilla is the top swimmer back for coach Mark Jager. Gamilla was third in the 100 breaststroke and fourth in the 200 intermediate.
“We graduated a lot of depth the last two years,” said Jager. “We want to integrate younger, less experienced swimmers into our culture for the future.”
Naperville Central, led by Mike Adams, returns senior Alex Lakin, who was 8th in the 100 breastroke.
Other seniors are Chase Coudreault, Quentin Sanders and Matt Johnson. Juniors back are Sam Lendzion, Brady Bechtel and Patrick Stern along with sophmores Max Goetsch, Robert Hargrove and James Behrend.
Naperville North returns seniors Adrian Lam and Sam Aldrich along with juniors Ethan Herscher, Alving Ng and Johnathan Wang and sophomores Jack Reif and Mason Hoffman.
“We have a good returning group with good leadership,” said coach Andy McWhirter. “It is a good group of young men.”
The top swimmer back for Neuqua Valley is junior Alex Parkinson, who was 11th in the state in the 500 freestyle.
Other state qualifiers back are senior Dima Knodrasev, Stefan Anderson and Chris Cottrill and junior Ryan Emmons.
The roster also includes seniors Jonathan Mannisto and Austin Olson and freshmen Arun Kaura, Peter Carroll and Patrick Xu.
“We hope to compete at a high level,” said coach Chad Allen. “We have a lot of depth.”
Allen's troops were 11th in the state a year ago.
South Elgin, 41st in state a year ago, returns seniors Josh Vargas, Matt Ozog and sophomore Albert Coric.
“We need to be at 100 percent and have our best times at championship meet,” said coach Jeff Davis.
St. Charles East must replace Jack Redden (St. Louis University) and Tyler Wojdyla (Carthage).
State quailifiers back are seniors Will Murray (200 freestyle relay), Leo Czerwinski (athletes with disabilities, second 200 freestyle, third 100 freestyle, fourth 50 freestyle, fourth 100 breaststroke), and juniors Kyle Algrim (8th 100 freestyle, 15th 200 freestyle) and Chris Souk (state qualifier 200 freestyle relay).
Other returning with experience are juniors Ben Stevens and Jake Scalise.
“Our goal is for increase state qualification,” said coach Adam Musial. “We want to be competitive in the conference and sectional.”
St. Charles North standout Alek Filipovic has taken his talents to University of Texas, but the North Stars have enough to improve on last year's sixth-place state finish.
Returning state qualifiers include seniors Robert Kemp, Stephen DelBello and Kane Kriz along with junior William Deitmeyer. Other returners are sophomores Brady Nightlinger and Skyler Bell.
“We want to contnue our tradtion of excellence,” said coach Rob Rooney. “With our new faces we want to have growth and focus at the end of the season.”
West Aurora coach Chris Ranallo welcomes back senior Brad Reimer, juniors Isaac Del Toro and Max Lopez and sophomores Lincoln Majersky and Owen Haymond. Mewcomers are freshmen Riley Wadle and Josh Hoecker.
“The Southwest Prairie is a strong conference and we have a great challenge,” said Ranallo. “We need to step up and compete.”
West Chicago co-op includes swimmers from Batavia and Geneva. Brady Johnson is back for the Wildcats who were seventh in the state a year ago. He was third in the 100 backstroke and fifth in the 200 Intermediate. Mason Smith is a returning state qualifier.
Others back are Ryan Fors, Dylan Clark, Mark Stavenger, Nathan Lindstrom and Sam Ortiz.
“We want to have continued growth from our upperclassmen,” said coach Troy Murray. “We have toughened up the schedule. We want a high finish in the sectionals and state.”
Wheaton North junior Reese Boecker and sophomores Austin Kirkman and Luca Zdarvko return to the Falcons. Freshman Owen Treanor joins the mix.
“The majority of the team is underclassmen,” said coach Angela Shaw. “This is a hard-working team in the pool and weight room. I would like to see how all their hard work will pay off.”
York, led by Mark Laurich, must replace state champ Connor Groya, who won the 50 and 100 freestyle.
Other state quaifiers are seniors Jeremiah Harrington and Joseph Qualitier and junior Nick Maiers. Seniors Charlie McKenna and Nick Kamencia also return.
Boys swimming at a glance
Top teams: St. Charles North, West Chicago, Metea Valley, St Charles East, Hinsdale South, Neuqua Valley, Huntley, Benet Academy, Downers Grove North, Hinsdale Central, Lake Park, York, Cary-Grove co-op, Naperville Central
Returning state qualifiers: William Deitmeyer (SCN), Jr; Robert Kemp (SCN), Sr; Stephen DelBello (SCN), Sr; Kane Kriz (SCN), Sr; Jaeden Gamilla (Metea Valley), Sr; Brady Johnson (WC), Jr; Mason Smith (WC), Sr; Kyle Algrim (SCE), Jr; Leo Czerwinski (SCE), Sr; Chris Souk (SCE), Jr; Will Murray (SCE), Sr; Parker Chan (HS), Soph; Jaedden Gamilla (MV), Sr; Andy Parkinson (NV), Jr; Dima Kondrashev (NV), Sr; Stefan Anderson (NV), Sr; Ryan Emmons (NV), Jr; Chris Cottrill (NV), Sr; Ben Rocks (Huntley), Sr; Jack Larson (Benet), Sr; Brendan Smith (Benet), Sr; Andy Cameron (DGN), Aiden Musso (DGN), Sr; Henry Platt (DGN), Sr; Ethan Weingast (DGN), Jr; Brody Marcet (HC), jr; Jeffrey Hou (HC), Jr; Nate Harris (HC), Jr; Andrew Gilbert (HC), Jr; Andrew Fix (HC), Sr; Nojus Bertalis (HC), Jr; Josh Bey (HC), Jr; Noah Priest (HC), Sr; Sam Kassir (HC), Sr; Jacob Drozard (LP); Alex Grodecki (LP), Jr; Dominick Perkowski (LP); Jeremiah Harrington (York), Sr; Nick Majers (York), Jr Joseph; Qualtier (York), Sr; Drew Watson (C-G), Jr; Dexter Zielenski (C-G), Sr; Kaspars Venslauskas (C-G), Sr; Alex Lakin, Naperville Central, SR.
Top invitationals: Trevian Relays (New Trier), St Charles North Invitational; Evanston Invitational, Neuqua Valley Invitational; Bloomington Invitational, Lincoln-Way Invitational