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homerhorizon.com SPORTS
the Homer Horizon | December 15, 2016 | 35
boys swimming
Lantow, Porters edge LW Central in opening dual meet
Erin Redmond
Assistant Editor
Lockport’s Michael Bates swims the 100-yard butterfly during a dual meet at Lincoln-Way Central Dec. 6.
Photos by Julie McMann/22nd Century Media
Matt Zalesko competes in the 200-yard individual medley for the Porters.
Lockport Township’s Josh
Lantow was swimming tired
against Lincoln-Way Central
Dec. 6, but he did not let anyone
know it.
The Lockport senior swimmer
took first in all four of his
events, helping his team open
the season with a 105-75 win
over the Knights. Lantow’s
biggest win of the evening
came in the 100-yard butterfly,
which he finished in
55.76 — nearly 13 seconds
faster than Central’s Justin
Hearne (1:07.93).
“We had a really good
meet today,” Lantow said.
“...We’re all swimming tired.
We’re doing two workouts a
day, but we’re really happy
with the way everyone swam
today.”
Lantow also took first in
the 200 freestyle (1:50.26)
to edge out Central’s Dylan
Sterling (2:00.63). He served
as anchor for the Porters’
first place 200 and 400 freestyle
relay teams. Erik Firganek,
Haleem Ajibola and
Jacob Sweis all competed
on the 200 team with Lantow
(1:33.75), while Jack
O’Connor took the place
of Ajibola for the 400 relay
(3:29.74).
The result was exactly
what the Porters were looking
for. Coach Jason Ozbolt
said his team has set a goal of
qualifying its relay teams for
the state meet, and, so far, it is
off to a good start.
“I think the attitude this
year and the focus for the
team this year is better,” Ozbolt
said. “They’ve all had a
year to mature ... they’re really
dialed in and focused, and
they know what they need to
do.”
The second-place finish
to Lantow was the only tarnish
on an otherwise stellar
night for Sterling. Individually,
he took first in the 500
free (5:20.84) and led off the
first-place 200 medley relay
alongside Mason Maze, Tim
Murphy and Danny O’Brien.
(1:48.81). He also anchored
the second-place 400 freestyle
relay (3:32.64) with the
same team, which finished
less three seconds behind
Lockport.
Sterling was not the only
Knight to shine, however.
O’Brien took first in the 200
individual medley (2:12.03),
finishing more than six seconds
ahead of Lockport’s
Firganek (2:18.24). He was
neck-and-neck with Porters’
swimmer O’Connor in the
100 free. They were tied after
the first turn, but O’Connor
gained the edge to record
a 53.04 time to O’Brien’s
53.13.
O’Connor had a much easier
go in the 100 backstroke,
easily winning with a time of
56.25. His teammate Connor
Hecker was the next to finish
(1:07.43), followed by Central’s
Josh Fox (1:08.86).
Maze notched an individual
win for the Knights,
holding off Lockport’s Sweis
to win the 50 free (24.15).
He also took third in the 100
breaststroke (1:11.33) behind
Lockport’s Colin Onak
(1:08.13) and Giovanni
Onesto (1:09.93).
“It was the first dual meet,
so I thought they swam really
well; it was really close
there for awhile, and we had
some good swims,” Knights
coach Pat Shaughnessy said.
“Overall, it looked much better
than I expected.”
Moving forward, Shaughnessy
said he will look to
O’Brien, Sterling and Maze
to set examples for their
teammates. The team had a
tough contest with Lincoln-
Way East Thursday, Dec. 8
and West Tuesday, Dec. 13.
“Our goal is to get to sectionals
and to state,” Shaghnessy
said. “We’re just starting
off, and we’ll see how we
do.”
The Porters have similar
goals, and Ozbolt said he is
looking for seasoned swimmers
like Lantow, Firganek,
Sweis and O’Connor to lead
the way. But before they look
too far ahead, the Porters
need to focus on fine-tuning
some of their techniques.
“Moving forward, we really
need to zone in on some
of our turns and some of our
starts — especially with our
sprinters,” Ozbolt said. “We
have some good power, but
it’s the small, little details
that we want to focus on now,
so as we go forward they’ll
be habits. As we go forward
we can just focus on strength
and speed in the late half of
the season.”
Lockport took on Andrew
and Plainfield Dec. 8 and
competed in the Wildcat
Relays Saturday, Dec. 10, at
West Chicago. The Porters
also swam at Joliet Central
on Wednesday, Dec. 14.
Both teams will compete at
the Neuqua Valley Invitational,
which begins at 5:30 p.m.
Friday, Dec. 16, at Neuqua
Valley High School in Naperville
with the diving competition.
Swimming kicks off
at 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 17.