Bearcats dominate at GSSC boys meet

Font Size

Email

Bookmark

Black Text

White Text

VALPARAISO -- Steve Schnell was sure Wheeler would dominate the Greater South Shore Conference meet.

His goal was to make sure the Bearcats won every single event.

Possibly standing in the way of Wheeler winning every event was Calumet's Daniel Arroyo in the breaststroke.

So about 10 days prior to Saturday's GSSC meet, Schnell went to Wheeler head coach Rob Gass and told him he'd like to swim the breaststroke at the conference meet.

"He came to me with that request before I could tell him that's what I wanted him to do,'' Gass said. "I told him I needed him in the breast in order to try and keep our winning streak intact."

Following the conclusion of Saturday's meet, Wheeler's event streak remains unblemished.

The Bearcats totaled 383 points -- beating runner-up Bishop Noll by nearly 200 points -- and Schnell beat Arroyo with a meet record time of 1:11.59.

"Our goal was to win every event today, and we did,'' said Schnell, who usually swims the 100 freestyle, but took first in the breast and 50 free races, while swimming legs on the Bearcats' winning 200 and 400 free relay teams.

Schnell competed in the breaststroke for the Bearcats a year ago -- going 1:11.05 previously.

Schnell's teammates David Hyde, Colin Gallagher, and Blake Buczek, each won two events and swam legs on Wheeler's winning relay teams as well.

Hyde took first and set meet records in the 100 butterfly, and 500 free, while Buczek placed first in the 100 backstroke and 200 free, establishing meet records in both events.

Gallagher notched firsts in the 100 free and 200 individual medley events.

"I was happy to beat (Noll's Wally Kaspryzcki) in the IM,'' Gallagher said. "I didn't think he was that fast. He definitely surprised me. He was beating me three-quarters of the way through the race, but I overtook him on the breast."

Hyman seemed content with his effort in winning the fly in a meet record (1:07.18).

"I was pretty happy with my time, especially when you consider we had only two practices this week,'' he said.

Hyman said he felt sluggish in the 500 free race, despite the fact he won.

Buczek claimed missing three practices this week due to bad weather and school closings, took a toll in the distance events.

"It seems like everyone went slower in the distance events, but in the sprints we did well, because they were a little bit tapered-off from the break,'' he said.

Despite the long layoff, Gass was happy with his team's performance.

"I was very pleased with the way we swam today," said Gass, who was thrown into the pool by his swimmers to celebrate winning the conference title.

"We improved on some of our conference records we had last year, and we had some really big time drops today, from guys like Steve (Schnell), Blake (Buczek), David (Hyman), Teddy Maldonado, (Steffen) Hirsch and Joe Jessen.

"I was pleased with the way they performed and behaved today. You worry about boys sometimes getting a little too cocky, and maybe getting a little too full of themselves. To their credit, they displayed good sportsmanship.''