NT_121318

48 | December 13, 2018 | The Northbrook tower Sports
northbrooktower.com
Boys Swimming and Diving
North falls in rival meet against South
Gary Larsen
Freelance Reporter
Glenbrook North senior
Ryan Purdy won the 200
individual medley, coming
from behind finish in 1
minute, 53.61 seconds, just
27 hundredths of a second
ahead of the Glenbrook
South’s Max Iida when the
two faced off on Friday,
Dec. 7, in Glenview.
Purdy’s time broke the
Spartans’ program record
in the 200 IM in the Titans’
116-69 dual meet win over
GBN.
“He’s really competitive,
which you saw in the
IM when he raced down
(Iida), who’s a really good
IM’er,” Spartans coach Jarod
Schroeder said. “I like
those kinds of guys, who
grit their teeth and just
don’t want to get beat.
“He’s a guy that used
to play football and now
he’s committed to swimming.
He’s an athlete and
he picks things up really
quickly.”
Purdy also won 100
backstroke for the Spartans,
while senior Ryan
Cohn dominated the field
in the 1 meter diving event,
finishing with 257 points.
“Our breaststrokers,
Daniel Kaufman and Sam
Shin, swam well and so
did Jake Shapiro,” Schroeder
said. “He went (personal)
best in-season times
in the 200 free and the 100
fly today.”
Kaufman was second
and Shin third in the 100
breaststroke, while Shapiro
was second in the 100
butterfly and 200 freestyle
events.
Sophomore Sami Moussally
didn’t have a team
to swim on at Grayslake
Central last year, so when
Glenbrook North’s Ryan Purdy swims against Glenbrook South on Friday, Dec. 7, in Glenview. Gary Larsen/22nd
Century Media
he transferred to GBS the
team culture under coach
Keith MacDonald was
new to him.
So far, he can’t say
enough about it.
“Being a part of this
team is just amazing,”
Moussally said. “The energy
is always up, somebody
is always cheering for you,
and no one’s ever letting
you get down. It’s just all
positivity.”
Moussally won the 200
and 500 freestyle events
and didn’t take the lead in
the 500 until the mid-point
of the race before finishing
10 seconds ahead of the
field.
“The 500 is a bit of a
stretch for him,” MacDonald
said. “He’s more of a
100, 200 guy so when we
come down to the very end
of the season, he’s going
to be very valuable in the
shorter races. He’s talented
and we’re fortunate to
have him. He gets along
with all the guys, and I
think he’s really enjoying
the experience,”
The 500 freestyle is a
grueling race and Moussally
felt things out before
turning on the afterburners,
finishing with a time
of 4 minutes, 46.34 seconds.
“I like to take out my
first 250 a little easy, get a
feel for the water, and then
I’ve just got to go,” Moussally
said. “First I want to
have a good stroke built
in so that In know when I
pick it up, I can keep good
technique. Then I have to
sprint and whatever pain
comes, I just have to ignore
it.
“It was a good race. I
was about ten seconds off
my best but I definitely felt
like I could have taken it
out a little bit harder.”
The Titans kicked off
the meet with a win from
the 200 medley relay
team of Max Iida, Quinn
Loughran, Matt Dale and
Elliot Chen. With a time
of 1:37.37, the foursome
finished a mere 33 hundredths
of a second ahead
of the Spartans’ Ryan Purdy,
Daniel Kaufman, Alexander
Johnson, and Ilian
Farbman.
South also won the 200
freestyle relay thanks to
Zac Spalding, Mike Hadjiivanov,
Kevin Becker, and
Adam Zuiker.
The junior Hadjiivanov
also won the 50 free for
GBS.
“He’s a monster of a
swimmer and he’s been
swimming great,” Mac-
Donald said.
Loughran won the 100
butterfly in 52.27, just
five-hundredths of a second
ahead of North’s Jake
Shapiro. Chen won the 100
freestyle and Iida won the
100 breaststroke events.
Loughram and Iida
are sophomores who had
great success last season.
Loughran finished 11th
in the 100 butterfly at the
state finals as a freshman,
and Iida placed 12th in the
100 breaststroke.
“They’re both back and
they’re swimming great,”
MacDonald said. “They
haven’t really grown a lot
(physically) since last year
but in the water, they’re
much farther ahead than
they were as freshmen.
The end of the year is going
to be really exciting for
those two.”
Iida, Loughran, and returning
junior Adam Zuiker
were also part of the 200
medley relay that placed
12th at last year’s state finals.
The junior Chen was
on the 400 freestyle relay
team that placed eighth
downstate two years ago.
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a couple mental mistakes,
we got in foul trouble with
our point guard (Mirochnick)
and when he went
out that’s when they took
that lead.
“But that’s a great team.
They’re smart, they share
the ball, and they’re a very
well-coached team.”
South’s 16-point lead
held after each team scored
13 points in the third quarter,
but the Titans’ lead
swelled to 53-33 early in
the fourth on a Joe Shapiro
drive to the basket.
The Spartans continued to
battle but the Titans stayed
in control to the final
buzzer. King and Jimmy
McMahon each finished
with nine points, while the
Titans got two three-pointers
in the game from Mac
Hubbard and one apiece
from McMahon and Tyler
Nelson.
“It was a fun game and
fun to win against our rival,”
King said. “I haven’t
beaten them in my four
years here so it was really
nice to get the win.
We played really well as a
team. Chemistry-wise, this
is the best team I’ve ever
been a part of. We know
where to find each other
and we know how to play
as a team.”
GBN center Frank Siegien
led the Spartans with
15 points, Brian Johnson
scored 12 and Jeremy
Gertz scored seven. Gertz
hit two 3-pointers while
Alex Press and Mirochnick
buried one a piece, for
a Spartans offense in the
process of finding its way.
“We’ve just got to keep
working and figure our
offense out,” Weber said.
“Against good teams it’s
been difficult for us to
score and as a coach, I
have to figure out what we
should run to get us more
looks.”