In just its third swimming meet of the season, St. Charles showed some of the best competition in the state something those squads didn’t want to see Saturday.
The defending state champion Saints already appear to be in midseason form.
St. Charles set three meet records, won five events and scored 124 points en route to its Red Division championship at the 14th Barrington Relays. Naperville Central finished second with 110, followed by Oak Park with 98, Lake Forest at 76, Naperville North with 70 and Fenwick at 44.
St. Charles’ Matt Munz, Dan Knudson, Jacob Wasinger and Shane Whildin led the 400-yard medley relay team to victory in the record time of 3 minutes 37.68 seconds. Scott Muety joined Munz, Whildin and Knudson on the victorious 200 freestyle relay team.
The Saints’ Munz, Whildin, Greg Morton and Jamie Prescott established a record of 2:42.23 in the 300 backstroke relay, and Morton, Munz, Whildin and Matt North set a meet record of 2:37.14 in the 300 butterfly.
Brady Knippenberg, Aaron McCracken and Mike Rigali were double winners for runner-up Naperville Central, which had victories in the 400 IM, crescendo freestyle relay, 300 breaststroke relay (3:06.68) and diving.
“At this point, this meet is just another step in our journey,” said Central coach Mike Adams. “You can’t put too much emphasis on one meet. But a lot of our guys really stepped up today.”
Evanston took the White Division crown with 131 points, followed by Barrington with 112 and Homewood-Flossmoor at 92.
Naperville North’s Tim Carlson, the state’s defending 200 individual medley champion, didn’t compete because of a perforated eardrum.
Girls gymnastics
Hinsdale Central Invitational: The host Red Devils won the meet for the third straight year with 143.6 points. Sandburg finished second at 137.45 and Lake Park was third with 135.65 in the six-team meet. It was the Red Devils’ second strong showing in a week. They scored 143.0 in a dual-meet victory over Lyons Township on Wednesday.
Hinsdale Central won all four events as senior Rachel Kroll (37.05) finished second in the all-around to Corynne Cooper (37.6), who competes for the Rich Township team.
“We were real excited about (beating Lyons), but this is even more exciting,” Kroll said. “There are a lot of things that can be fixed in our routines, and hopefully we’ll be able to do that.”
Despite hyperextending her right knee in practice Friday, Cooper won bars, floor exercise and vault–the event she has won at state the last three years. In only her second meet, Cooper said she is pleased with how she performed her new floor-exercise routine.
“There are still rough some edges, like timing and sharpness, but other than that, it is becoming pretty routine,” Cooper said.
“She probably danced the best (floor exercise) routine that any of us have seen her dance,” Rich Township coach Dan Malloy said.
Bowling
Morris Invitational: Lockport turned in a sizzling overall performance, but it was Oswego’s Kari Schwager who stole the show in the 28-team tournament.
The junior rolled a six-game 1,321 pinfall, the fourth-highest recorded series in state history, en route to the individual title.
The Porters, meanwhile, turned in a team 5,295 and had four of five bowlers over 1,000 to claim top team honors. Oswego was second with 5,164, followed by host Morris at 5,146.
Schwager’s landmark performances–which included an afternoon 710 score for three games–were the highest in her three-year high school career. She had five games over 200, including a 258 in her final game, and averaged 220.1.
“I was on today,” said Schwager. “(But) you don’t try to think about it, you just kind of go up there and throw your shot.”
Lockport took the lead in Saturday’s second game and never relinquished it.
Sophomore Connie Cwudzinski paced Lockport with an overall 1,118 pinfall, followed by freshman teammate Julie Cornyn (1,100) and seniors Kristen Gilbert (1,070) and Kelly Capiak (1,016). Sophomore Amanda Churchill had a 994.
Morris’ Stefanie Steele was second among individuals with a 1,154 pinfall and a 192.3 average.
