2/3/2009
CHESTERTON -- One couldn't ask for a better dual swim meet. Or closer.
Top-ranked Chesterton boys took first and third in the last event, the 400 freestyle relay, to tie No. 4 Munster 93-93.
Chesterton's girls tuned up for next week's sectional by rolling 115-71 led by double winners Milana Socha (200 & 500 free), Meaghan McLaughlin (200 IM, 100 fly) and Olivia Kabacinski (100 free, 100 breaststroke).
The Trojans boys, second to Munster at the Highland invite, dominated the first half of Thursday's meet, winning the first eight events to go up by 15-20 points.
Chesterton set a pool record, one of three, in the first event, the 200 medley relay.
Inspired by a pool record in the 200 freestyle relay, Munster took charge late, grabbing the lead (79-77) when Kevin Behrens won the 100 backstroke for a Seahorse sweep of 1-2-3. Junior Joe Wolf then took the 100 breaststroke easily to set up the final event as both sides roared.
"Both teams are so good that nobody should lose," said Trojan coach Kevin Kinel, adding it's his first tied meet in "10 or 15 years.
"Munster's so deep. I'm really happy for Matt" Pavlovich, their first-year coach. "It was a brilliant move by him to juggle their 200 free relays" to go 1-3-5. Behrens, Wulf, Pat Raycroft and Corey Bandura won in 1:27.46, nipping Chesterton by a miniscule .26.
"This was a postseason atmosphere," Kinel noted. "Munster keeps us honest and we do the same for them."
Pavlovich started with pre-race strategy but had to shift on the fly once he fell behind. "We had to kind of throw things together; we had no choice. It was take a chance or lose."
He predicted it would be decided by "a couple of points either way." Last year, visiting Chesterton won by 26.
Afterward, a Seahorse swimmer said he "called the tie." Another stressed "we're still undefeated at 13-0-1." Chesterton also hasn't lost a dual meet.
One highlight was a match-up of junior national team members who competed in Guam over the holiday break. Trojans ace Kyle Whitaker edged Behrens in the 100 fly 49.13 to 49.59 as both broke the pool mark (49.7).
"Kyle broke his own record; he and Behrens are real good friends who push each other," Kinel said. Whitaker breezed in the 200 IM by 3 seconds and swam on two top relays.
A Trojans unsung hero was Ethan Hall, moved from the 400 free A relay to anchor the B relay. The senior responded with a personal best leg of 48.7 for third. "I broke 49 seconds for the first time. We knew we had to get first and third.
"This meet, all four years, is such a thrill. I can't describe what it means to us," Hall said, noting "we expect to win every meet." Asked what was said before the relay, he replied "this is it, let's go."
Hall also moved from the 100 back to the 100 free to give Chesterton a better chance. He took third in the free in 49.7, noting "to drop one second in a meet is nearly unheard of."
Trojan Bill Bass won the 200 and 500 free and Tyler Fozkos took the 50 and 100 free.
Said Pavlovich, who coached three years at Merrillville: "you can't get a bigger dual meet than this, the intensity, the crowd," adding Wulf's win was huge as was sweeping the backstroke.
"We knew they could really hurt us in the backstroke," Kinel said. "I thought about putting Kyle there but felt we could make it up in the final relay." His kids did.
He said going 1, 3, 4 in diving "really helped."
Senior Houston Wolfe edged Munster's Matt Poulos 230.9 points to 225.35 with Jake Brehmer third (204.3).
He added his Trojans girls "all swam well, setting themselves up real nice for sectional."
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