Rested and tapered swimmers --- not usually the norm until the Illinois High School Association state finals --- did some record damage Saturday at the Central Suburban League South division meet.
With no postseason goals to strive for, swimmers competed head-to-head for the first time after a “virtual” regular season and smashed 7 league records at the Glenbrook North pool.
Evanston swimmers set two new school marks on their way to a solid third place finish in the team standings with 278.5 points, trailing state powers New Trier (371) and Glenbrook South (361). Maine South (172), Glenbrook North (133.5) and Niles West (79) rounded out the team standings.
Find out what's happening in Evanstonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
How fast was the 100-yard breaststroke field? Evanston junior Caden Hardy broke the school record with a time of 58.03 seconds --- and finished 6th in the race. Glenbrook South’s Max Iida shattered the league mark by a full 3 seconds with a winning time of 53.29.
Hardy’s time was quicker than the previous record of 58.82 established in 2014 by Maciej Olszewski.
Find out what's happening in Evanstonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Evanston’s other school record came in the 200-yard medley relay. The Wildkits lowered the mark in that event for the second straight year, with the foursome of Hardy, Charlie Herrick, Alex Johnson and Charlie Duffy earning third place in 1:35.36, better than the old mark of 1:35.56.
Evanston counted a pair of runnerup efforts from junior Aaron Martin in the 200 freestyle (1:39.58) and 100 freestyle (46.31), along with a 2nd place finish from Herrick in the 100 backstroke (52.81). Diver Aryeh Lesch, also a junior, placed 2nd in his specialty with 459.85 points.
Martin’s swims were both among the top 8 clockings state-wide in the 100 and 200. Contributing individual 3rds were Duffy in the 50 freestyle, in 21.65, and Johnson in the 100 butterfly in 51.49.
“With the big boys (elite swimmers) tapered and shaved, some of those records have really been put out there for awhile,” said ETHS head coach Kevin Auger. “I’m just ecstatic about the way we swam. I wish we could have had a full season, but the kids were gung-ho about their training right from the start and they remained that way. They were very, very focused.
“The time drops they got in a short season were all pretty awesome. I was especially happy with the medley relay. Charlie Duffy got his foot stuck in a gutter (on his turn), or we would have been at least 1 more second faster. And we put the onus on the younger guys in the distance races and then did a great job.”
Auger replaced his two top varsity swimmers in the 500 with freshmen Lucas Macy and Cadel Saszik. Macy placed 5th, dropping to 4:53.01, almost 40 seconds quicker than he was at the start of the year, and Saszik’s 10th place effort of 5:01.82 represented a personal best, too.
