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34 | January 24, 2019 | The Homer Horizon sports
homerhorizon.com
Boys Swimming and Diving
Porters, Warriors finish deadlocked at SWSC dual meet
Randy Whalen, Freelance Reporter
The SouthWest Suburban Conference
swimming meets are just
over a week away.
Lincoln-Way West and Lockport
Township are in different divisions
of the conference, so the two
teams won’t go head-to-head in the
meet. That’s unfortunate, because
when they did last week, something
unique happened: they tied.
On the varsity level, each team
won six events and finished with
92 points in an SWSC dual meet on
Jan. 15 at Lockport.
“I don’t recall ever having a tie,”
said Lockport coach Jason Ozbolt,
who is in his sixth season as coach
of the Porters. “It was a fun way to
finish the meet with a tie.”
Eric Pavlacka is in his fourth
season as head coach at West and
hasn’t seen it, either.
“That’s a first for me, at least on
the varsity level,” Pavlacka said.
“It’s unique.”
While the two teams won’t be in
the same division of the conference
meet, they did see each other again
last weekend at the Lockport Invite.
The diving was held on Friday, Jan.
18, while the swimming was held
on Saturday, Jan. 19.
Both the Porters and Warriors
planned to have more of regular
lineup at the invite. In last week’s
dual meet, they both used people
in different events. That is meant to
help the teams get a feel for what
needs to be done for the upcoming
conference and sectional meets.
“We mixed some things up and
Sprinter Casper Harmata checks his time after finishing the 50 free for
the Porters.
had some people in off events,” Ozbolt
said of the dual meet. “To get
some of these times is a nice confidence
boost. We will see how some
guys do as they start their taper for
the end of the season. We [had] a
stronger lineup in [last week’s] invite.
It’s a 13-team invite and has
been going on for a long time. I
swam in it [Ozbolt graduated Lockport
in 2000]. We put certain guys in
certain events looking for our sectional
lineup.”
In the dual meet, the Porters won
two of the relays. They kicked it off
with a win in the 200-yard medley
relay, as the foursome of sophomores
Kevin Moe and Tommy
Abramite, along with junior Augusto
Ureta and senior Simon Harmata,
came in with a winning time
of 1:48.58. Lockport later pulled out
the 400-yard freestyle relay to cap
the meet and pull into the tie. That
was a time of 3:39.91 behind sophomore
Caesar Plaszewski, Harmata,
senior Michael Bates and Ureta.
Winning individual events for the
Porters was Plaszewski (1:06.76) in
the 100-yard butterfly and Abramite
(1:08.97) placed second. Ureta
(5:27.05) took honors in the 500-
yard freestyle, and senior Josh Martinez
(1:08.23) won the 100-yard
backstroke.
Placing second for Lockport was
the 200-yard freestyle relay team of
Abramite, Bates, junior Casper Harmata
and Simon Harmata (1:39.15).
Also finishing runner-up for the Porters
was sophomore Zachary Dalton
(2:08.81) in the 200-yard freestyle,
Casper Harmata (25.14 seconds) in
the 50-yard freestyle and his older
brother, Simon Harmata (:52.70) in
the 100-yard freestyle.
“Most of the time, I’m in the 50-
yard freestyle,” Simon Harmata
said. “So I surprised myself in the
100-yard freestyle (finishing second
by eight-tenths of a second),
and I didn’t expect to do that well.
Lockport’s Josh Martinez swims the butterfly as part of the 200
individual medley Jan. 15 meet against Lincoln-Way West in Lockport.
Photos by James Sanchez/22nd Century Media
Definitely, with our taper coming
up, I want to see how much time I
can drop. I might do the 100-free at
conference and sectional. We will
see.
“We’ve been pushing. There
are moments that we’ve struggled
this season, but also times we’ve
shinned. But overall, the team has
been great. We’ve surprised each
other, and we look toward the end
of the season to drop more time.”
Lockport had one other winner.
That was in diving, where senior
sensation Wrigley Fields dominated.
He won with a six-dive total
score of 322.05. The next day, on
Thursday, Jan. 17, Fields set a pool
record at Stagg with a six-dive score
of 329.3.
At the Lockport Invite held Friday,
Jan. 18, Fields established new
pool and school records in diving,
having a 12-dive total score of
536.25.
Fields, however, will not be diving
at the conference meet. That’s
because he is also a member of the
Porters co-ed cheerleading team,
and that is the weekend of the State
Finals.
“I refuse not to go to state,” Fields
said. “We have one big cheerleading
goal, and that’s first place.”
Fields also wants to medal (Top
12) at state in diving. After starting
slowly in last week’s dual meet, he
was satisfied with how he did.
“I crushed my fifth dive,” Fields
said. “As long as I score over 300,
I’m happy. It will be nice to be in
our home pool for the sectional.”
Both SWSC swim meets are slated
to start at 5 p.m., with diving Feb.
1 and a 10 a.m. start on Feb. 2 with
swimming competition. The Blue
Division, which includes Lockport,
will be held at Sandburg.
Lockport hosts its own sectional,
which is to take place Feb. 16.
This Week In...
Porters Varsity Athletics
Girls Basketball
■Jan. ■ 24 host Lincoln-Way East,
6:30 p.m.
■Jan. ■ 29 at Homewood-Flossmoor,
6:30 p.m.
Boys Basketball
■Jan. ■ 25 host Stagg (Veterans
Night),
6:30 p.m.
■Jan. ■ 29 at Joliet Central, 6:30 p.m.
Girls Bowling
■Jan. ■ 26 at Dixon Invite, 9 a.m. at
Plum Hollow Center
■Jan. ■ 29 at Minooka, 4 p.m. at
Channahon Lanes
Boys Bowling
■Jan. ■ 25 at IHSA State
Championship, TBA
■Jan. ■ 26 at IHSA State
Championship, TBA
Boys Swimming
■Jan. ■ 24 host Homewood-Flossmoor
(Senior Night), 5 p.m.
Competitive Dance
■Jan. ■ 25 at IHSA State
Championship, TBD
■Jan. ■ 26 at IHSA State
Championship, TBD
Celtics Varsity Athletics
Boys Basketball
■Jan. ■ 25 host Mt. Carmel,
7 p.m.
Girls Basketball
■Jan. ■ 24 at Mother McAuley,
6:30 p.m.
■Jan. ■ 26 at Loyola Academy,
11 a.m.
■Jan. ■ 29 at De La Salle, 7 p.m.
Wrestling
■Jan. ■ 24 host Mt. Carmel,
6 p.m.
Boys Bowling
■Jan. ■ 25 at State Finals Day 1 (at
St. Clair Bowl in O’Fallon), TBA
■Jan. ■ 26 at State Finals Day 2 (at
St. Clair Bowl in O’Fallon), TBA
Hockey
■Jan. ■ 25 at Mt. Carmel (at Arctic Ice
Arena), 7 p.m.
■Jan. ■ 29 at Fenwick (at Edge Ice
Arena), 8:50 p.m.
Competitive Cheerleading
■Jan. ■ 26 at IHSA Sectional (at
Lemont), TBA
Competitive Dance
■Jan. ■ 25 at State Competition (in
Bloomington), TBA
■Jan. ■ 26 at State Competition (in
Bloomington), TBA