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40 | March 8, 2018 | The winnetka Current sports winnetkacurrent.com high school highlights The rest of the week in high school sports Boys basketball Loyola 69, Hersey 31 Pete Mangan scored 19 points to lead the Ramblers to a regional semifinal-win Feb. 27 in Park Ridge. Connor Barrett added 15 points. New Trier 57, Wheeling 43 Ciaran Brayboy had 14 points and six rebounds as the Trevians won their regional semifinal Feb. 27 in Winnetka. Spencer Boehm added nine points and 10 rebounds. Boys hockey Loyola Gold 4, New Trier Green 3 Cooper Prawdzik, Eamon O’Brien, Danny Stevens and Aidan Finegan each scored to lead the Ramblers to a Game 2-win in the Scholastic Hockey League championship series Saturday, March 3, in Winnetka. The sweep of New Trier Green gives the Ramblers their first-ever SHL title. Loyola Gold 3, New Trier Green 2, OT O’Brien scored the game-winning goal in overtime Friday, March 2, in Lincolnwood. Ben Goldberg and Robbie Gapp scored in regulation of the first game of the SHL championship series. Do you see this ad? Your Customers Will! 847-272-4565 www.22ndcenturymedia.com Loyola Boys water polo preview Experienced squad leads Loyola into 2018 Michael Wojtychiw Sports Editor Last season was more of a learning experience for the Loyola boys water polo team, as only two of its players had seen any varsity experience. All that team did was make it to the sectional final, where it would fall to eventual state runner-up New Trier. Luckily for the Ramblers, many of those inexperienced water polo players return this season. “Their mental preparedness coming into a game, there’s a lot less on their mind, they know what to expect going into the game,” coach Daniel Hengelmann said. “They know the level of competition and it changes how we approach practice on a daily basis, where last year it may have been more instructional, this year more technical.” Making it to the sectional final was something that was a great experience for such a young squad. “That was an unbelievable experience to play a squad like New Trier because it let us know where the bar is with the way the boys train in the offseason, swim during the swim season,” the coach said. “I know that they’re aware we need to be playing at a higher level than we were last year and I think we’re ready for the challenge.” Luckily for the Ramblers, they return one of the state’s best players in John Merucci. The senior scored third-team all-state honors after scoring nearly 100 goals last season. Tony Spallone, a co-captain, is one of the state’s best defensive players, according to his coach, and one of the more under-recognized players. However, it’s the a sophomore that may be one of the most, if not the most, important players on the squad. That’s Jake Carr, who last year made history for any team under Hengelmann’s watch by being the first freshman to ever start for the Ramblers. “It takes a very headstrong person to take on that responsibility, especially someone who had to take on New Trier on a regular basis,” Hengelmann said. “The way he handled himself, took leadership of the role, it demonstrated the character he had. “You can tell how much faith the entire team has when going into battle. ‘Oh my god, our last line of defense is phenomenal, we can help him out defensively but we know he’s got our back as well.’ He’s hungry to get back and assume that role.” Despite much of the squad being an experienced one, Loyola will still look for some of its newcomers to play key roles. “We have a sophomore named Kevin Considine. At our freshman/sophomore conference swim meet, he won the 100 and 200 freestyle two years in a row. He’s a big, strong, fast kid who is going to be an impact scorer right away,” the coach said. “It’s a family tradition. He’ll be the fourth boy in the program and his sister is the captain at Bucknell. We know he’s going to provide a lot of impact. “Another new guy is Noah Zahn, he was an impact varsity swimmer Loyola’s John Merucci looks to lead the Ramblers deep into the 2018 postseason. 22nd Century Media File Photo Loyola boys water polo roster Noah Zahn Wil Edwards Kenny Sajnaj Jack Maddalozzo John Merucci Jacob Bevan Tony Spallone Charlie Freedman Brain Solmos Charles Caestecker Tommy Barr Kevin Considine Jake Carr this year, was able to play with us this summer and has improved greatly. His speed is going to be very helpful to us.” The Ramblers play in arguably the most difficult conference in the state, the Metro Catholic Aquatic Conference, one that features constant state contenders Fenwick, Brother Rice and St. Ignatius. Fenwick and Brother Rice have won the two most state championships in state history. “We open with Fenwick, Loyola boys water polo schedule Date Opponent Time 3/9 at Palatine Invite TBA 3/10 at Palatine Invite TBA 3/12 at St. Ignatius 6 p.m. 3/14 at Mount Carmel 6:30 p.m. 3/19 vs. De La Salle 6 p.m. 3/21 vs. St. Patrick 6 p.m. 3/23 at York Invite TBA 3/24 at York Invite TBA 3/26 at St. Rita 6 p.m. 4/6 at Lyons Invite TBA 4/7 at Lyons Invite TBA 4/10 vs. Evanston 6 p.m. 4/11 at St. Viator 6:30 p.m. 4/19 at Conant 6 p.m. 4/24 at Glenbrook South 6 p.m. 4/27 at Stevenson Invite TBA 4/28 at Stevenson Invite TBA 4/30 vs. Lockport 6 p.m. 5/3 at MCAC Championships TBA 5/5 at MCAC Championships TBA and then follow that up with Brother Rice, the two programs with the most state championships. We don’t see a point in coming out and playing a light schedule,” the coach said. “All of our tournaments are deep and put us in a pool different than ours but similar to the ones we’ll be playing in at the conference, sectional, and hopefully, state tournament. We can only challenge ourselves so much in practice, we need to go out and measure ourselves against the best teams in the state.”
winnetkacurrent.com sports the winnetka current | March 8, 2018 | 41 Rowing Boys basketball Loyola gets defensive in regional-final win New Trier senior Peter Chatain (second from right) takes part in an international meet last summer. Photo submitted Chatain sets rare rowing feat Michael Wojtychiw Sports Editor The New Trier rowing season didn’t start until Monday, March 5, but that didn’t stop the Trevians from working out and training during the cold days of winter. After a successful fall season, the Trevians took third place out of 85 boats at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, finishing the race in 14 minutes, 46.12 seconds. The time is the fastest time for a U.S. high school since the Head of the Charles began 53 years ago. The success continued in late January when senior Peter Chatain accomplished something only one other rower in his age group had: finished a 2,000-meter erg piece, an indoor workout regime, in under six minutes. Chatain, who is headed to Stanford in the fall, completed the piece in 5:59.7, joining Clark Dean of Sarasota Crew in Florida as one of the only ones their age to break six minutes. “I train a lot so this validates the training I’m doing,” Chatain said. “I did off training the week before. The day before I only did 40 minutes, as opposed to 80 minutes. Then during the piece, leading up to it, I did some visualization, trying to get myself mentally ready for the piece.” Chatain said that normally rowers will do 33 strokes per minute, but that wasn’t the case on this day. “At the start I was doing 50 strokes per minute,” he said. “After that, I fell into my pace, which was about 1:30, the pace I was trying to break. In the second 500, around the middle of the race, it started to get pretty hard so I fell a little bit off pace. “In the last half of the race, I thought ‘I needed to do this,’ so I brought up the stroke speed from 33 to about 35, 36 and at the higher pace I was able to bring the split down to 1:29, 1:28. At the very end, as I’m totally gassed, the last one-fifth of the race, I was feeling really tired, so I brought up the rate to a 40, 42, which is pretty hard. Because I got the rate up so high, I was able to finish the piece out under six (minutes).” According to many in the rowing world, Chatain’s accomplishment is comparative to running a four-minute mile. Previous to this time, his career best had been 6:09.5, set last spring. Chatain, who didn’t start rowing competitively until his freshman year, had some doubts about whether this was something he could achieve. “There are other people, who in freshman year were going 7:10 in their 2,000 and I was 7:53,” he said. “There were 10 or 12 people faster than me freshman year, so I didn’t think I’d get this fast.” In late March, he will know if he gets selected to the U-23 selection camp, one that features many of the top rowers in the country under the age of 23. This wouldn’t be the first time competing for USA Rowing. Chatain was a member of the U-19 team in summer 2017, one of around 23 to make the team. “A big thing for me was technique and how to fix the technique quickly,” Chatain said. “You’re put in an environment with a lot of 40 or so other guys that are trying to make the team so you need to adapt quickly to each boat and each rowing style. I learned how to take the input from the coaches and adjust quickly; that’s not something easy to do. That’s made me more effective at rowing.” The Trevians’ first big meet will be in Cincinnati at the Cincinnati Open on April 14th. Chastain and his teammates have their eye on a trip to the Youth Nationals in June this year. “We’re hoping to make the top six at Youth Nationals,” he said. “Usually there’s only one school a year that will do that. Most of the teams in the top six are clubs who can get clubs from all over an area but I think we can do it.” David Jaffe, Freelance Reporter Loyola Academy takes a lot of pride in how it plays defense. And the Ramblers (24-6) had plenty to be proud of in terms of their defense Friday, March 2, during the Class 4A Maine South Regional final. Fourth-seeded Loyola locked down on the number five seed, Maine South, and controlled the game, winning 48-29. They held the Hawks to just six first-half points and gave up just 15 points in the first, second and fourth quarters combined forcing 17 turnovers and limiting the Hawks to mostly oneshot possessions. Loyola advances to the Maine East Sectional semifinals where they will take on top seed Evanston Tuesday, March 6. “We were locked in against a very good team,” Loyola coach Tom Livatino said. “It helped having a lot of days to prepare and we played with a tremendous amount of effort. Defense travels and it can be hard to get a high school team to buy into being a good defensive team. But these guys want to be that type of team.” “Coach really stresses defense,” Loyola’s Connor Barrett said. “We were able to take them out of what they wanted to do offensively and had good communication.” Loyola never trailed, scoring the first eight points of the game and Kevin Cunningham scored nine of the Ramblers’ first 11 points. But Cunningham had to sit all except the final minute of the second quarter due to foul trouble. And despite Loyola not lighting up the scoreboard, they scored the final five points of the half to increase the lead to 19-6. The Ramblers had a long possession working the ball around until Bennett Kwiecinski converted a layup and then Barrett (18 points) buried a trey. Maine South made a run in the third, though, after Cunningham picked up his third foul, going on an 8-2 run to cut a 20-9 deficit down to just 22-17. But the Ramblers answered on a three from Barrett and layups by Peter Mangan and Quinn Pemberton increasing their advantage back up to 29-20 after three. “This is a resilient group and we stepped up in a game where Kevin played the least amount of minutes he’s played all year,” Livatino said. “I was really proud of our seniors. I thought Patrick Russell and John Lynch played phenomenal. What they do won’t necessarily show up in the stat sheet but they were a big reason why we responded the way we did to their run.” “We kept grinding,” Cunningham said. “I think for the most part we executed our game plan exactly the way we wanted to and then when things weren’t going our way, we just kept battling and didn’t lose confidence in ourselves.” Loyola pulled away in the fourth extending the lead to 41-26 led by seven from Barrett, who scored nine in the fourth. The Ramblers also got a layup from Lynch, a pair of free throws from Pemberton, and a foul shot by Mangan. It was Barrett, though, who came up with the big shots when Loyola was in need of offense. “I think my coach has all the confidence in the world in me to give me the green light and step up and make shots,” Barrett said. “We knew we were going to have to step up with Kevin in foul trouble so I had to keep shooting and do whatever I could to help us.” “It was just Connor being Connor,” Livatino said. “He makes shots and is good off the dribble. He’s improved a lot as a defender. He’s been doing these things all year.” Cunningham added 12 for the Ramblers while Pemberton and Bennett Kwiecinski each added four.
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