In February, five members of the East boys swim team competed at IHSA State, held in its new venue: the FMC Natatorium of Westmont, Illinois.
East had representatives in a total of nine different events from Feb. 25 to Feb. 26.
Jack Redden, senior, competed in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly. Kyle Algrim, sophomore, swam in the 200 and 500-yard freestyle. Leo Czerwinski, junior, competed in the 200, 100, and 50-yard freestyle as well as the 100-yard breaststroke in the Athletes with Disabilities category (AWD). Chris Souk, Will Murray, Redden and Algrim also qualified in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
At IHSA State, the top 12 swimmers in each event advance from the preliminary heats to finals. Algrim was able to qualify for finals in the 500-yard freestyle.
“State went better than expected,” Algrim said. “I had a bad swim in prelims but bounced back the next day and dropped three seconds from my personal best.”
Overall, he placed 8th in the 500, with a time of 4:33.31.
“I was satisfied after finals because I was able to drop and place well,” he said.
Czerwinski placed top five in all four of his events.
“State went extraordinarily well,” Czerwinski said. “I got to swim at the FMC pool. The pool is extremely nice and very well equipped for these kinds of huge meets. Overall, the experience at state was amazing.”
Czerwinski placed 2nd in the AWD 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:17.52. He placed 3rd in the AWD 100-yard freestyle with a time of 1:04.8. He also placed 4th in both the AWD 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard breaststroke with times of 29.88 and 1:33.33, respectively.
Czerwinski said he was satisfied with how he swam and placed at state: “I feel like I placed well for being against the times they had,” he said.
Redden was 19th in the 50-yard freestyle and 23rd in the 100-yard butterfly. The 200 -yardfreestyle relay did not qualify for finals, finishing in 25th place.
The swim season as a whole was a complicated one for the Saints due to last season’s COVID-19 challenges.
“The season was quite complicated, given we had just come out of a COVID situation,” Czerwinski said. “Our coaches did their best to make the season not only run smoothly, but also fun, and I have to say they managed to do so.”
Algrim noted how the sophomore class was relatively inexperienced compared to a typical year.
“The sophomore class had just as much experience as the freshman class because last year’s season was far from normal,” he said.
As a sophomore, Algrim has two more seasons to swim for the Saints. However, he is already looking toward the future, saying he plans to swim in college. In addition, some of his goals for next year are “to break the team record in the [500-yard freestyle], and bring the team closer together by raising team spirit.”
Czerwinski hasn’t decided if he wants to pursue swimming at the next level.
“I would like a college with a swimming program,” he said, “but I really wish to prioritize my art. So I’m not actually sure yet if I want to continue.”
Overall, Czerwinski said that the best parts of the season were the moments he had with the team.
“They are so much fun and make for amazing friends,” he said.