Fenwick swimmers look to polo

Updated: March 23, 2011 4:10PM

At Fenwick, the end of the swimming season often marks the beginning of the water polo season.

Senior Connor Brown admitted that water polo season wasn't too far off his mind moments after competing in the 83rd annual state swimming meet at New Trier Saturday. Defending eight-time state champion Fenwick began preseason water polo practice on Monday.

Brown was the only Friars swimmer to advance to Saturday's finals at the state meet. He finished 12th (47.59) in the 100-yard freestyle and later ended his high school swimming career by taking 10th in the 200 freestyle relay (1:26.28) with sophomore Justin White, junior Viken Huening and senior Ryan Greenway. Brown, Huening and Rich Mueller are the only Fenwick state qualifying swimmers hoping to defend their state title in water polo. Huening took 36th (48.61) in the 100 free.

"It will be hard to wrap around a couple of memories (to share) after spending four years swimming with 11 practices a week," Brown said. "I've had some great times and made friendships with people I will know the rest of my life."

Brown was 11th in the 100 free after Friday's preliminaries. He didn't have any extraordinary expectations heading into Saturday's final heat.

"I did pretty good. I can't complain about the finish; top 12 in the state," Brown said.

Brown is Fenwick's No. 2 returning goal scorer from last year's state championship water polo team. He had at least 118 goals last season to trail sophomore Matt Farmer for the team's goal-scoring lead. Fenwick seeks its 10th overall state title, but practice opened for the first time in recent memory without veteran coach David Perry.

Perry will miss the beginning of the season while receiving treatment for cancer. According to his online blog, Perry followed the IHSA's live scoring of the state swimming meet on his computer and attended the end of the Friars' first practice.

"After chemo, there was just enough time to stop by Fenwick and catch the end of the first water polo practice. Boys look focused!!! I was happy to be there," Perry wrote in his blog.

Perry's son, Kyle, a former Fenwick water polo player himself, will take over on an interim basis as coach until his father returns. David Perry has led Fenwick to each of its state championship seasons, except for 2004 when he was listed as a co-coach with Mike Grusecki.

The Friars beat Naperville Central in the state final for the second time in three years, and won 11-8 to finish with a 33-2 record last season.

Fenwick opens the water polo season at 6 p.m. Monday at Loyola.

Both of Fenwick's remaining relays finished in the top 25 led by the 200 medley relay (21st, 1:38.27) with Eric Bell, Tommy McGuire, Mueller and Greenway. The 400 free relay (23rd, 3:15:17) featured Huening, Bell, Greenway and Brown.

Bell was Fenwick's only double individual state qualifier and finished 25th in each event: the 50 free (21.80) and 100 back (53.94). Greenway took 37th (22.05) in the 50 free. White placed 40th (1:47.78) in 200 free and Bryce Peters finished 44th in the 200 Inidividual medley (2:00.62).

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