Reavis holds off Shepard

Updated: March 23, 2011 9:30AM

With Reavis holding a slim four-point advantage through 10 events over Shepard, Brandon Hines knew the importance of his race in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Swim to his top seed time, and the senior would provide a cushion for the Rams heading into the final event, a relay that favored Shepard. And a loss? Well, Hines wasn't thinking like that.

With Hines winning and teammate Sabastian Mysliwiec finishing second, Reavis had enough of a lead late to hold off Shepard, winning Saturday's South Suburban Red conference meet 282-273 in Palos Heights.

"I was just thinking that I had to keep doing what I've been doing all year," Hines said. "Everything would work out in the end. I think we're in a great spot (heading into sectionals)."

Hines was one of three individual champions for Reavis to go along with a first-place title from a relay.

In the 100-yard breaststroke, Hines won in 1:06.88. The other winners included the 200-yard medley relay (1:48.65), Mysliwiec in the 200-yard IM (2:11.28), and Rafael Ortiz in the 100-yard backstroke (1:03.28).

The win at the conference meet helped avenge an early December loss in a dual meet to Shepard for the Rams.

"This is a fantastic feel, and our guys busted their butts all year long," Reavis coach Frank Keller said. "We were underdogs all season long, and these guys believed in themselves. They brought it home today. I'm really proud of them."

For Shepard in second place, Pat Nelson won the 200-yard freestyle (1:54.39), 500-yard freestyle (5:21.03), Dan Taylor won diving (322.55 points), and the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:34.87) and the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:33.40) both won.

Argo's Chester Davis was the only other winner in multiple events, winning the 50-yard freestyle (:22.35) and the 100-yard freestyle (:50.91).

Evergreen Park's Sean Morrison finished first in the 100-yard butterfly (:59.40).

In the team standings, Richards (224) finished third ahead of Evergreen Park (4th, 176), Argo (5th, 131), Oak Lawn (6th, 102) and Eisenhower (7th, 97).

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.