Boys swimming: Hinsdale Central tops Stevenson to claim New Trier title

Tradition is important to the teams competing in the New Trier Trevian Relays, now in its 67th year.

So is getting off to a fast start.

Hinsdale Central proved that Saturday in Winnetka, winning the first event of the meet, the 200 medley relay.

That triumph, in the time of 1:34.28, propelled the Red Devils to an invitational team victory amongst a very strong field with a score of 212.

Stevenson was second at 195, followed by the host Trevians (173).

Vidar Carlbaum, Nojus Bertulis, Brody Marcet and Nate Harris were the Hinsdale Central relay swimmers that excelled to begin the invite.

"We were just pumped up for the relays," said Harris, a junior. "I think if you look at the history of Hinsdale Central, that's what we were built on."

"The way they set up the meet," added Harris, "they like to start it off with a bang by putting the varsity medley relay first. We wanted to come out and make a statement, get the win, and have fun doing it."

Carlbaum finished first in the 50 free (21.58) to give a big assist to the Red Devils win, while teammates Henry Guo (51.65) took the 100 fly, and Bertulis of HC was fastest of all in the 100 back in the time of 52.40.

Stevenson's runner-up finish was paced by Colin Zhang, who won the 200 individual medley with a mark of 1:53.73.

The Patriots were victorious as well in the 200 free relay (David Kohan, Jonny Farber, Diego Rosario-Freytes, Jack Curtin), and the 400 free relay (Farber, Liam Plautz, Zhang and Curtin.)

"The top three teams in the state were here today - New Trier is No. 3, we're No. 2 right now, and Hinsdale Central is No. 1," said Stevenson coach Doug Lillydahl.

"Relays are double points in the state championship," added the coach, "so hopefully (our performance today) is something we can build on."

Lillydahl also had high praise for junior Zhang.

"In many ways he's the centerpiece we build around," said Lillydahl. "He consistently wins or is close. The way he swims determines the way we attack the meets the rest of the way."

Barrington's Rylan Anselm (1:43.86) won the 200 free, while Jonathan Wang of Naperville North was first in the 100 breaststroke at 57:63.

St. Charles East junior Kyle Algrim has been specializing in the 500 free for several years, so he knows how grueling the race can be.

He excelled Saturday by winning the 500 in the time of 4:39.51.

"I think distance is one of the more mentally challenging races, and it's very different than any other stroke," said Algrim.

"You really have to know what you're doing, have a good internal clock, know where you are at and pace yourself, because the race can go really well - or really poorly."

Algrim added that the Trevian Relays was one of the events on the schedule he was excited about.

"I was looking forward to racing today," he said. "There were some pretty fast guys out here, so I psyched myself up really good. I kept swimming my own race, I was third or so at the 200 but I just kept going at it and finished strong.

"I just kind of swam according to what I planned out, and everything worked out. This event, with all the great teams, kind of makes you want to show what you can do."