Balcerak breaks St. Viator's backstroke record
St. Viator's boys swimming program hosted the 36th version of its annual early season invitational on Wednesday.
The record set by Lions sophomore Michael Balcerak broke an even longer tradition.
Balcerak won the 100-yard backstroke in 54.62, finally erasing a St. Viator team record set in 1974 by Mike Salerno.
St. Ignatius proved to be the class of a seven-team field, winning with 306 points. Prospect (232) edged St. Viator (230), while the District 300 team was fourth (204) and Huntley (106) fifth.
It's shaping up as quite an interesting season for Balcerak, who scored points in the 100 and 200 freestyles last year at the state meet. He's expanding his repertoire to include the backstroke, along with the butterfly and the 200 IM.
In the medley relay, Balcerak's 50 fly split was 22.97. He won the 200 IM in 1:59.72.
He wrapped up his day by anchoring the 400 free relay in 46.47, so it should be clear that the freestyles remain an excellent option for Balcerak. Lions coach Jamie Klotz is gathering information about just how fast he can go in just about all the possibilities before making any end-of-season decisions.
Just as exciting to Klotz was the overall achievement for his team.
The medley relay finished in 1:43.97 and is closing in on that team record. The 400 free relay placed second in 3:25.70 - already a couple seconds faster than last year.
Key performers included Ben Peinsipp (second in the 50 free, third in the 100), Mitchell Warren (fourth in 100 breast, sixth in 100 fly). Klotz was also pleased with relay legs from Dante Cerone and Michael Ruben - and for his team's ability to listen. That was especially true in the case of Warren's effort in the 100 fly.
"He died a terrible death on the back half of the race," said Klotz, "but it was important for him to know what it feels like to be out that fast on the front half. He listened. That's the important thing."
Prospect coach Alfonso Lopez has his team getting ready for a key Mid-Suburban East dual against Wheeling on Friday. He said his swimmers' times were a bit off on Wednesday, but the Knights got strong finishes from Nick Partipilo in the 200 IM (fourth, 2:12.81) and 100 free (second, 52.41). Alex Morikado came up with a nice effort in the 100 fly (1:00.12), and Jack Gabriel was third in the 500 free (5:19.15).
And Lopez was pleasantly surprised by the sprint relay of Matt Inserra, Gabriel, Partipilo and Jacob Kosinski (1:37.31).
"The sprints were one area that I thought we might need a little time for some of our guys to really get used to varsity racing," said Lopez, "but it's looking like they're ahead of where I thought they might be."
Dist. 300 coach Rick Andresen, meanwhile, says his team is in a "building phase."
Senior Francis Ogaban, a state qualifier two seasons ago, continues to improve as he mends from a summer surgery to address injuries suffered in an auto accident at the end of the last high school season. His freshman brother Harold is fitting right in at the varsity level and placed third in the 100 breaststroke (1:07.46).
The Ogaban brothers, along with competitors Elijah Stuart (third in 200 IM, 2:12.19) and Reid Coyle (sixth in 100 free, 53.88), are giving Andresen reason to anticipate a bright future.
"We've got a good group of freshmen and a some talented sophomores," Andresen said. "It's the kind of team where it's fun to go to practice and see what they can do."
St. Francis' boys swimming program is still relatively young, in its fifth season. And though the Spartans placed sixth in the team race, coach Tom Galla saw measurable progress for his group. High points for St. Francis included the 100 breaststroke effort from Colin Smith and the 400 free relay of Naveen Breen, Matt Bandusky, John King and Alejandro Monzon.
"For a meet like this, the idea is to get as many guys as we can into good races," Galla said. "Overall, we were a lot faster today than I thought we'd be."