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Boys swimming and diving: Naperville North's Qiao leads charge into finals

There was Naperville North senior Horace Qiao, cooling down after his 200-yard individual medley effort during the preliminary session of the boys swimming and diving state meet at Evanston Township High School on Friday.

Several peers approached Qiao to congratulate him on his swim, which had earned him a spot in Saturday's championship finals.

To get his attention, they were using his nickname: 'II' - pronounced, eye-eye.

"I've had that forever," Qiao said. "My parents said that was the first sound I made, and they tell me for a long time it was about all I said, over and over."

His efforts Friday earned him a pair of championship heat appearances. Qiao earned the sixth and final spot in the IM and is third in his best event, the 100 fly.

That time in the IM was a lifetime best by two-plus seconds.

Aye-aye, II.

"It feels good to come here and be able to perform," he said. "As a senior, it's a little bit different for me. You want to do your best, like usual - and you don't want to let the younger guys to take anything from you."

One of those younger guys might be someone like Lake Park sophomore Ben Kimmel.

When he exceeded expectation in the 100 fly, coach Dan Witteveen signaled the good news by flashing an open palm: Kimmel had qualified fifth.

That prompted some jubilant splashing in the cool-down pool, and this comment from Witteveen: "We wanted to get him under 50, and it's a little bit of a surprise to have him in finals. But mainly it's good news because it sets him up nicely for the backstroke."

Yep, that worked out well, too. Kimmel earned the No. 6 spot in another lifetime best, 50.58.

Waubonsie Valley senior Jared Simpson excelled in both his individual races. He said he was more pleased with his 200 IM, which has him seeded fourth in 1:50.40. In the 100 back he finished in 50.72 - still a big drop from his sectional effort, but only good for seventh place.

"The IM was great - no complaints," Simpson said. "The backstroke, not what I was hoping for, but it looks like I'll get another swim at least."

Neuqua Valley's 200 free relay of Kyri Chen, John Ruan, Sathya Subramanian and Connor Boyle earned the No. 6 spot after finishing in 1:24.88. The Wildcats got another one through to finals in the same No. 6 spot as the 400 free relay of Chen, Ruan, Jack Hiss and Boyle finished in 3:06.09, and the medley relay qualified ninth.

Both Waubonsie Valley and Naperville North made the top six in the medley relay. The Warriors qualified fourth with Jake Darlinger, Brian Daugherty, Aayush Deshpande and Bryan Ellig in 1:32.92, and for the Huskies it was the all-senior quartet of Noah Ellis, Josh Tak, Qiao and Calvin How in sixth.

Downers Grove North has the top diver after the semifinals. Junior Kevin Sullivan has 386.90 points - about 13 points ahead of Evanston's Harel Anolick.

For the group from Naperville Central, Day 1 of the state meet was about making sure that there would be a Day 2 to consider.

"We have a lot of guys here that are first-timers," coach Mike Adams said. "For us it was a little like the line from A Tale of Two Cities - it was the best of times, and it was the worst of times.

"You have a 13th-place or 14th-place finish or two, and it really stings. But this year, with these guys, we can't dwell on that. We had great swims throughout the meet. Sometimes you have to have that experience of things not quite working out like you'd hoped - you absolutely have to go through that."

In the best-of-times category, Redhawks sophomore Andrew Dai claimed the final qualifying spot in the 200 IM. And Naperville Central will have both free relays in action Saturday, both having finished 12th: in the 200, Brad Sanford, Luke Klein-Collins, Matt King and Dominic May, and in the 400 it's Sanford, Klein-Collins, Dai and May.

The prelims session featured three state records.

New Trier's medley relay got things started by finishing in 1:29.53.

Lyons senior Spencer Walker lowered the 100 back standard to 47.22, and New Trier senior Charlie Scheinfeld set the mark in the 100 breaststroke at 53.60.

In the team race New Trier had a strong day all the way around and is poised to earn the championship. All three of its relays qualified into the top six, and the medley and 400 free relays are the top seeds.

Hinsdale Central has multiple scoring opportunities, with the medley and 200 free relays in finals and the 400 free in the consolation heat. Individually, the Red Devils have championship finalists in Cole Grosshan (50 free), Donovan Lahmann (100 free) and Billy Leader and Trystan Lundgren (100 breast).

The meet resumes with the championship session at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Images: Friday at the State Final Meet in boys swimming

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