Matt Grevers (4 State Records) Leads lake Forest to Illinois Boys State High School Crown
By Josh Jeffrey
April 1. AS expected, Matt Grevers of Lake Forest High School, dominated the proceedings at the recently-held Illinois Boys Swimming and Diving State Championships.
Grevers, a Northwestern-bound senior who already owned the state record in the 100 freestyle, added four more to his cache as he took two individual events and was also a part of two state relay records.
In individual events, Grevers did his best swimming in preliminaries, first in the 50 yard freestyle, where he clocked a 19.83 to crush Brian Kurza's standard of 20.26, which had stood since 1988. In finals, he posted a time of 19.94 for an easy win against Springfield senior Darren Volle (20.59).
To put it in perspective, these times respectively are the third and fifth fastest in high school history.
The 100 backstroke prelims saw Grevers post another state record, as he took half a second off James Wike's 49.38 from the 2001 championships, posting a 48.77. In finals again, Grevers coasted to another easy win in 50.54, defeating Palatine junior Bob McCarthy, who finished second in 51.77.
Presumably, Grevers swam slower in finals to conserve his energy for Lake Forest's 200 and 400 freestyle relays, which ran away with two state records and consequently, the team title. The 200 freestyle relay team of Sammy Kintz, Steve Inacker, Brendan Selby, and Grevers smashed the state record of 1:24.00 by more than half a second, posting a winning time of 1:23.39, tearing away from second-place Hinsdale (1:24.98).
In the 400 freestyle relay, Grevers, Inacker, Kintz, and David Ashley combined to smash another state record, posting a time of 3:04.59, more than a second better than the old mark of 3:05.84 set by Aurora High in 1999. The pace was just too much for second-place Lincolnshire, who touched more than four seconds back at 3:08.91.
In addition to Grevers, relatively fast times were seen across the board. Rockford senior Brad Bosford was a double winner, taking the 200 freestyle in a swift 1:39.41 over Aurora junior Chris Schenck in 1:40.52, and the 500 free over Lake Forest senior David Ashley, 4:26.65 to 4:28.97. Schenck would take second again in the 100 fly to Lincolnshire junior Tommy Gregory, who won in 50.05 to Schenck's 50.46.
Lincolnshire's 200 medley relay led by Gregory, along with Justin Tanyavutti, Brandon Gorson,and Brian Boger would win a state title, defeating Naperville North 1:36.51 to 1:36.96.
Stanford-bound Lake Forest senior Sammy Kintz took the 100 free in a come-from-behind win over Naperville Central senior Pat Fleming, 45.44 to 45.61. Winnetka senior Meir Hasbani won the 200 individual medley in 1:53.17, exactly four-tenths of a second ahead of Naperville North senior Kevin Arthofer at 1:53.57.
As well, Hinsdale Central junior David Kormushoff would win the 100 breaststroke by 4-tenths of a second over Palatine senior Steve Miskovetz 57.16 to 57.56.
Led by Grevers and the record breaking state relays, Lake Forest (181) ran away with the state title, easily defeating Lincolnshire (138). In third was Hinsdale Central at 119 points.