It’s OK. You can say the words “400 freestyle relay” at Oak Park again.
For the past year, that wasn’t the most welcome phrase at the Huskies’ practices. At last year’s state meet, Jamie Daggett was called for a false start in that relay, the final race of the day, and Oak Park’s chance at catching eventual state champion St. Charles vanished.
But Oak Park turned disappointment into ecstasy Saturday at Evanston High School, breaking the state record in that race and taking the school’s first state swimming title. The Huskies finished with 174 points to easily outdistance Marmion (139.5) and St. Charles (126).
Oak Park swam the final relay in 3 minutes 6.19 seconds, .13 seconds better than the mark set by St. Charles in 1985.
“We wanted that record for 365 days,” said anchor Tim Barry, who also won the 500 freestyle and 200 freestyle. “Coming in and winning three relays is unbelievable.”
For Daggett, who has said that he loved competing in last year’s meet despite the false start, this year’s meet was especially sweet.
“It’s about 25 times better,” he said. “I don’t know why it’s so much fun.”
It could be because Oak Park took the meet by the throat Friday night and never let go. After the preliminaries Friday, Oak Park was in perfect position to win.
That was the good news. The bad news was that the Huskies had to wait a whole day for the finals.
“I didn’t sleep very well,” coach Peter Quinn said. “I was doing a lot of tossing and turning.”
Quinn said that preparing for this year’s finals was much different from last year, because he knew the meet was Oak Park’s to lose. But Barry said the Huskies were able to focus on the races.
“Coming into today, it was zero-zero,” he said.
It wasn’t long before Oak Park had the lead. The Huskies won the first race of the day, edging St. Charles in the 200 medley relay. Barry followed in the next event by winning the 200 freestyle by more than 2 seconds. With Barry’s specialty, the 500 freestyle, and two relays remaining, it was clear that everybody else was swimming for second.
As the day progressed, however, the suspense did not disappear. Oak Park had missed the state record in the 400 freestyle relay by just .31 seconds Friday night, and the Huskies were anxious for another shot at the mark.
Jamie Daggett didn’t have to worry about a false start this time. He swam the second leg, taking Oak Park from third place to first.
But there was a reason he looked so quick.
“I was swimming with the slower guys,” Daggett said. “Everybody in the crowd gets so excited because it looks like I’m going fast.”
After last year, Daggett and Oak Park deserved the cheers they got.
“This is so much better than I ever could have imagined,” Barry said. “I knew it was going to be fun, but this is great.”
