Boys Swim Team Tested at Fast State Meet

By Paul Harris-Hertel

Considering that the recent history of the ETHS boys swimming program includes two state titles in the last seven seasons, some might judge the squad's finish at this year's state meet disappointing.

The Wildkits finished with one point, earning them a four-way tie for 38th place in the state swimming and diving championship meet at New Trier on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 23-24.

But Evanston head coach Kevin Auger was far from unhappy with his team's performance. Auger pointed to the exceptionally fast times at the meet, especially in the 500-yard freestyle and the 100-yard breaststroke, the two races in which the Kits were the strongest.

In the 500, senior Ben Terry's preliminary time of 4:41.55 was the third-fastest time in school history, but was only good for 11th place in Friday's race. In Saturday's final, Terry got 12th in 4:43.23 to score Evanston's only point of the meet.

"That was the fastest top 12 ... in the history of the state meet," Auger said of the 500.

In the 100 breaststroke, senior Tommy Grossinger and junior Ben McBratney just missed qualifying for the final round. Grossinger's time of 1:00.92 earned him an 18th-place finish in the preliminary race and left him 76 hundredths of a second short of advancing. McBratney got 20th in the prelims with a time of 1:01.15.

"Any other year, Tommy makes it in," said Auger. "Most years it's been 1:01.05 [that] gets into the top 12.

"Both Tommy and Ben dropped significant times this year and that's all you can ask," Auger added.

Terry also got 19th place in the prelims of the 200 freestyle, finishing in 1:45.10. McBratney's time of 1:59.83 in the 200 individual medley tied for 27th in the prelims.

Auger also made a point of saying how pleased he was that all three relay teams qualified for state. On a team without a lot of depth, the coach explained, "just getting three relays through was an accomplishment."

The 200 medley relay finished 21st in the prelims in 1:40.09, while the 400 freestyle relay (3:18.65) got 25th and the 200 freestyle relay (1:30.12) got 26th.

The Kits graduate ten seniors from this year's team, all of whom made the state meet as individuals, relay team members, or relay alternates. Auger will turn to a talented stable of underclassmen to offset the losses, and will lean especially hard on this year's freshmen class for support in the near future.

"We had the second best freshman core in the CSL behind New Trier," said Auger. "It depends on how much we progress. We don't necessarily get the best freshmen in the country, but by the time they leave they've progressed significantly."

Evanstonian Wins 'Snowdoku Challenge' in NYC.

Evanstonian and University of Pennsylvania student Amy Reams, 18, and other sudoku enthusiasts rolled into the Big Apple to compete in a frozen feat and demonstrate their puzzle prowess in the "Chrysler Aspen Snowdoku Challenge" on Feb. 27.

The super-size sudoku puzzle, which was made out of 36,000 pounds of snow and ice, was solved in 4 minutes and 26 seconds by a team of puzzle pros from the University of Pennsylvania swim team. For their efforts, the members of team Penn Swimming were awarded a grand prize trip to Aspen, Colo., where they will ride in style during their stay in an all-new 2007 Chrysler Aspen, the brand's first sport-utility vehicle.

Team Penn Swimming was one of six teams selected to compete in the "Chrysler Aspen Snowdoku Challenge" after registering online for a chance to participate. Teams were allowed to have anywhere from two to eight players and were challenged to work together using a 6-foot long pencil to solve the giant "Snowdoku" puzzle in the shortest amount of time.

McGaw Swimmers Qualify For Area Championship

Thirty-one swimmers from the McGaw Y Swim Team (MYST) qualified for the Illinois/Missouri Area YMCA Championships at the Chicago District YMCA Championships this past weekend.

The girls placed first in nine individual events and two relays; boys placed first in four individual events and two relays. Sarah Thompson and Honore Collins set new meet records and Thompson, Collins, Maddy Urban, and Wesley Marberry won more than one individual event.

Overall, the girls placed third and the boys were fifth in this team-scoring event that included eight teams from the Chicago area.

Individual District champions:
Honore Collins, Girls 8 & Under 25 Butterfly, 16.23 (new MYST record); 50-yard Freestyle, 33.39; and 100 IM, 1:24.98 (prelim time of 1:22.91 set new meet record).
Evan Swenson, Girls 11-12 50 Freestyle, 28.11.
Sharon Wu, Girls 11-12 50-yard Backstroke, 30.66 (new MYST record).
Sarah Thompson, Girls 13-14 200-yard Freestyle, 2:02.90; 500 Freestyle, 5:26.84 (new meet record).
Maddy Urban, Girls 13-14 50-yard Freestyle, 25.51; 100 Butterfly, 1:02.69.
Walter Haracz, Boys 8 & Under 25-yard Butterfly, 16.95.
Wesley Marberry, Boys 11-12 200-yard IM, 2:20.51 (new MYST record); 50 Backstroke, 29.21; 50 Breaststroke, 32.86 (new MYST record).
Relay Team District champions:
Sheridan Cleave, Paige Hayden, Collins, and Emily Mohrenweiser; Girls 8 & Under 100 Medley Relay, 1:18.85.
Allison Siegel, Thompson, Julianna Struve, and Urban; Girls 13-14 200 Freestyle Relay, 1:48.53.
Haracz, Axel Lafont-Mueller, Adrian Lafont-Mueller, and Ian Swenson; Boys 8 & Under 100 Freestyle Relay, 1:11.89.
Jack Anderson, Marberry, Aaron Mohrenweiser, Nathaniel Urban; Boys 11-12 200 Medley Relay, 2:04.34.

Other MYST swimmers who finished in the top six in their individual events included: Jack Anderson, Robin Bastian, Sheridan Cleave, Joe Carr, Connor Dixon, Mae DuVuono, Thomas Haracz, Paige Hayden, John King, Kevin Klyman, Sarah Klyman, Adrian Lafont-Mueller, Dan Managlia, Madeline Managlia, Aaron Mohrenweiser, Liza Prah, Millie Rosen, Allison Siegel, Shaffer Siegel, Arturo Ramirez, Constance Reynolds, and Nathaniel Urban.

The Illinois/Missouri Area YMCA Championships are March 10-11 at the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO.