When the members of the Evanston swim team who qualified for the Illinois High School Association state meet step onto the pool deck next weekend at the FMC Natatorium in Westmont, they’ll see a lot of familiar faces.
That’s what happens when you survive an insanely fast sectional qualifying meet like the Wildkits did Saturday.
The fastest swimmers in the state of Illinois funneled their way through the Niles North Sectional, setting a blistering qualifying pace that left the other statewide sectionals in their wake.
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Evanston will send five individuals and three relay teams to compete again with the state’s elite at State, with the preliminary competition set to begin on Friday afternoon.
Coach Kevin Auger’s squad had to be at its best in a meet where every lane was the fast lane. How else would you describe a meet where the top 8 finishers advanced in the 100-yard butterfly and 100 freestyle, and the top 7 all advanced in the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays, the 100 breaststroke and the 50 freestyle by beating the established IHSA qualifying time standards?
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Eight divers also made the cut at Niles North.
“We knew going in it would be fast. But this was crazy, this was nuts,” said the veteran ETHS coach. “The Central Suburban League South is the best conference in Illinois by far, and then when you add a fast Loyola Academy team, this is what you get. It was insane.
“It was definitely a good meet for us. The conference meet was super fast --- and this meet trumped that one.”
Evanston’s three relay teams --- in the 200 medley, 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle --- rose to the occasion and had no trouble beating the time standards even though they never earned those times during the regular season.
And Hunter Kleinschmit, second in the 200 individual medley in 1:53.49; Maxton Pomykalski, fourth in the 200 freestyle in 1:44.08; Jonas Nissan, fourth in the 500 freestyle in 4:46.23; Isaac Peng, sixth in the 50 freestyle in 21.58; and Finch Shewfelt, eighth in the 100 fly in 51.79, all kept their seasons alive with qualifying swims.
Kleinschmit, a sophomore, was the headliner for the Wildkits after breaking the school sophomore record in the IM by a full three seconds. Now he’s only two seconds off the school varsity mark set by Caden Hardy --- and he’s got one week and two full seasons to challenge that record.
“He didn’t go crazy with his split in the fly today, so he still had some legs left for the freestyle (at the end of the race),” Auger pointed out. “But the improvement he’s made in the breaststroke made a big difference for him this year. He didn’t use up a lot of energy in the fly (24.9 split) and he swam very well with his other splits (33.6 in the breaststroke, 28.0 in the backstroke, 26.9 freestyle).
“He was sixth at the conference meet last week, but only one of those guys beat him this week (and one from New Trier didn’t compete in the IM at the sectional). That time would be borderline to make the finals next week --- and I know he’ll do it again. He’ll have to do that, or better, to make it to the finals.”
Nissan, still not 100 percent after suffering a sprained ankle playing basketball a couple of weeks ago, did lower his time a couple of seconds Saturday and the senior could be primed for a big finish in an event where big time drops will still be coming from quite a few contenders.
Auger thinks the senior standout will be in that mix if he has the confidence that he’s past the injury.
“Jonas is the one guy I thought was solid at the beginning of the year as far as making it to State,” Auger said. “He’s getting a little faster each week and I expect he’ll be a LOT faster next weekend. I’m a little disappointed he didn’t make it in the IM (7th in 1:58.68 in a race where the cut came at 1:57.28), but I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do now that he’s only swimming the 500.”
The Evanston foursome of the Kleinschmit brothers --- Will and Hunter --- plus Shewfelt and Peng combined for a fifth place time of 1:35.85 in the 200 medley relay. Evanston added fourths in the 200 freestyle relay (1:25.46 with the same unit) and the 400 freestyle relay (both Kleinschmits, Shewfelt and Pomykalski, who anchored in 47.6) to earn trips to State.
The Wildkits placed fifth in the team standings Saturday with 151 points in the 11-team field. New Trier earned the team title by outscoring Glenbrook South 254-237.
