THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2008
Quite A Feat In Freestyle Heat
West's Cullen, South's Thompson Swim To Tie In 200-Yard Dual
Maine South boys swimming had a busy but successful weekend as they topped rival Maine West on Friday and finished third in the 40th Annual St. Patrick Shamrock Relays Saturday.
The Hawks had some of their top swims of the year Friday as they hosted the Warriors and earned the 103-76 win.
South swept all three relays and won all of the individual events except one, where there was actually a tie.
That oddity came in the 200 freestyle where Hawk Kevin Thompson came from behind and touched at the exact same second as Maine West's Pat Cullen. With electronic timing, ties don't happen often and South coach Chris Deger said he had not seen that happen in a very long time.
But his team did out-touch the Warriors in most other events as they brought their dual record to 2-1.
Individual winners were Michael Zadlo at the 200 IM, Andrew Salomon at the 50 free, Michael Szpak in the 100 fly and 100 breast, Adam Wojciechowski in the 100 free, Kevin Thompson in the 500 free and Ryan Simpson in the 100 back.
Saturday's St. Pat relays were a test of endurance as Deger said the 16 events were finished in just under an hour and fifteen minutes.
That was especially notable for Andrew Salomon, who earned South's only first place finish despite having taken part in three events in ten minutes.
But Salomon was still able to top the sophomore 50-yard free field in 23.80 for the win. Several more Hawks added second place performances, including Eryk Radziszewski and Ryan Mostyn in the varsity diving relay.
Other silver medalists were Michael Zadlo, Matt Sherbahn, Dennis Walega and Drew Whitenack in the freshman 200 medley relay, Wojciechowski, Ryan Simpson and Szpak in the varsity 3 x 100 IM relay and Whitenack, Doug Aniol, Walega and Zadlo in the freshman 200 free relay.
Niles West edged the Hawks as a team, taking second place overall.
* Prospect and Buffalo Grove went down to the wire Friday but it was the Bison who escaped with a 94-92 win.
BG was able to seal its victory with a win in the final event, the 400 yard free relay. That team of Kevin Reilly, Adrian Sadkowski, Matt Cooney and Brad Lotzer beat the Knight foursome by three seconds to take the conference win.
Matt Block also had a big meet for the Bison as he won three events, taking the 200 free and 500 free individually and also adding a win at the 200 yard free relay. The Knights were led by standout Charlie Mau, who took first place in the 200 yard IM, 100 fly and as part of the 200 yard medley relay team.
Joining him in that event were Joe Lakner, Andrew Bowman and Tyler Bengsten.