Soph Kleinschmit Rises To 14th At State IM

Swimmers in the Class of 2027 made up a new wave of elite competitors at the Illinois High School Association state swimming and diving finals this weekend.

And Hunter Kleinschmit of Evanston proved conclusively that he ranks with the top sophomores in the state of Illinois.

At a highly competitive state finals where it’s an accomplishment just to make it to Saturday --- in either the championship or consolation heats --- Kleinschmit earned a 14th place overall finish in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1 minute, 53.25 seconds. He also anchored Evanston’s 200 freestyle relay team to a 15th place showing with an eye-catching split of 20.93.

Kleinschmit is a star on the rise in his sport. The only problem is, there were five other sophomores who scored top 16 finishes in the IM Saturday and moving up won’t be easy, especially if they all stick to that event and don’t focus on individual strokes.

Sophomores also scored top six finishes in every single individual race at the FMC Natatorium in Westmont, including a 1-2-3 finish in the 100 backstroke. College coaches already have their eyes on this group.

“That sophomore class is very, very good, and that includes us,” said veteran Evanston head coach Kevin Auger. “You never know how they’ll progress. But there’s a lot to be excited about there. We’ve seen all of them growing up (starting as age group swimmers).

“Hunter took a big, big step for us this year and he still has a fair bit of room to improve on his technique. It was just extremely exciting to watch him swim that race Saturday the way we felt he could, and I think he’ll continue to get even better.”

Kleinschmit turned in a preliminary qualifying time of 1:53.19 – three-tenths of a second faster than his sectional effort --- and was just off that mark Saturday. He’s also only about two seconds shy of the school record time currently owned by Caden Hardy.

And he’s got two years to climb in the ranks in an event where you have to be good at all four strokes --- breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly and freestyle --- to make an impact at State.

“IMers tend to be utility guys and one thing about Hunter is that he’s fast. You have to have speed to swim that race,” Auger added. “We work on the IM a lot in practice, especially with the freshmen and sophomores because at that point I don’t believe you’ve developed enough to say that any stroke is your best stroke.

“Hunter did a great job at the end of that relay, too. We were a little worried because he hadn’t shown great stuff in relays and we were looking for a little more from him. He gave it to us.”

In fact, the Wildkits’ Isaac Peng, Will Kleinschmit and Finch Shewfelt combined with anchor Kleinschmit to fall just short of the ETHS school record in the 200 freestyle relay. They missed by eight-hundredths but should challenge the actual mark of 1:24.72 again next year since Peng is the only one who will graduate this year.

“Both Finch and Will were really good in that race,” praised Auger. “That time was NOT something we had anticipated. When they came to me a couple of weeks ago and said they were going after the school record I almost laughed in their faces. Saturday we were just a little too safe with the starts --- at that point you don’t want to get a DQ (disqualification for an early start) or they’d have gotten the record.”

That performance climaxed one of the most remarkable relay showings Auger has seen in decades as the ETHS coach. The Wildkits as a group turned in their best splits in EVERY case from the sectional to Friday’s prelims, and in the case of the 200 free relay, again on Saturday.

“You might see three of the guys get a best split like that, but not all of them,” Auger explained. “It’s especially great because they were all shaved and tapered and rested for the sectional, just to make sure they made it. That was really impressive. It’s rare when they all hit on all cylinders like that.

“I’m completely happy with our results this weekend.”

As a team, Evanston tied for 33rd place (with Hersey) with 7 points. Hinsdale Central dominated the team race with 338 points, easily beating out Marmion Military Academy (190) and New Trier (156).

Evanston turned in at least four efforts during the prelims that counted as near-misses toward reaching Saturday’s finals. Sophomore Maxton Pomykalski missed advancing in the 200 freestyle despite a time of 1:43.68, short by 1.18 seconds, and the Kits also came up short in the 200 medley relay (by .17 with a time of 1:35.57) and 400 freestyle relay (by nine-hundredths with a time of 3:10.85). In that last race, Hunter Kleinschmit turned in a sizzling anchor leg of 46.85.

In the 500 freestyle, senior Jonas Nissan wasn’t quick enough --- by a margin of about two seconds --- after posting a 4:45.15 clocking.

Also competing for ETHS in the prelims were Peng, 21.60 in the 50 freestyle, and Shewfelt, 51.88 in the butterfly.

“I thought Jonas was in the position he needed to be in. It was just a matter of half a second here or there,” said the ETHS coach. “He swam a 4:48 at the conference meet, got down to 4:46 at the sectional and dropped again Friday. His splits were pretty much spot on. I think he got his confidence back after spraining his ankle (three weeks ago) because it hurts when you have to kick with an injury like that.”