WC_020719

40 | February 7, 2019 | The winnetka Current SPORTS
winnetkacurrent.com
Wrestling
New Trier’s Cummings, Janczak take home regional titles
Gary Larsen
Freelance Reporter
Jack Cummings won an
IESA kids’ club state title
as an eighth-grader, and the
New Trier freshman can
now add another accolade
to his wrestling resume: Illinois
high school Class 3A
regional champion.
Cummngs and Trevians
senior Tyler Janczak (195
pounds) each won regional
titles, and junior Matt
McKenna (145 pounds)
won his third-place match
at Fremd, on Saturday, Feb.
2. All three will wrestle at
next week’s Barrington
sectional for a chance to
advance downstate.
As the lone freshman
wrestling at 160 pounds,
Cummings won all three
of his matches, capped by a
pin of Fremd’s Jorge Martinez
on the title mat.
“I wrestled great today
and this will only help me
get ready for sectionals
next week,” Cummings
said. “Hopefully I can qualify
for state because that’s
my dream this year. That
would be awesome.”
Cummings pinned
Hersey’s Billy Spassov in
his semifinal to guarantee
himself a sectional berth.
He pinned Martinez early
in the second period of
their title match.
“I never wrestled (Martinez)
before so I didn’t
know his style,” Cummings
said, “but after the
first takedown I felt like I
could take a good shot on
him.
“I knew I’d have a tough
road this year. A lot of these
guys are a lot stronger than
the kids in middle school,
so I’ve tried to not lock up
New Trier’s Jack Cummings wrestles in a match at the
IHSA Fremd Regional Saturday, Feb. 2, in Palatine. Gary
Larsen/22nd Century Media
with them and just wait for
my opportunities.”
Janczak only recently
returned to wrestling, after
battling assorted injuries
this season. improving to
13-2, Janczak pinned all
three of his regional opponents,
capped by a firstperiod
pin of Glenbrook
South’s Cam Mercer on the
title mat at 195 pounds.
“I only came back three
weeks ago,” Janczak said.
“Luckily I’m taking a
strength and conditioning
class at school or I would
not be here right now. I was
lifting a lot, did a lot of cardio
and some meditation.
“I’m happy. I wasn’t this
strong mentally last year
and I’m wrestling much
better now.”
McKenna earned his
sectional berth with a 6-0
win on the third-place mat
at 145 against Glenbrook
North’s Anthony Sherman.
It’s win or go home on the
regional third-place mat, as
only the top three wrestlers
in each weight class advance
to next week’s sectional.
“I knew it was a mustwin,”
McKenna said. “I’ve
seen (Sherman) before and
I knew he’d be tough on
top but wasn’t as good on
his feet. I just had to stay in
good position.
“I lost a close match at
conference and a close
match here in my semifinal,
and I wasn’t going to
not go to sectionals because
of another close match. So
I’m happy with how I wrestled.”
New Trier’s Michael
Miralles (120) and Ashwin
Rabindran (285) also came
close to advancing, but
both saw their seasons end
in losses on the third-place
mat.
Loyola also saw two
wrestlers move on to the
sectional round as Aidan
McKeag took second
at 132 pounds and Sam
Shierloh took third at 195.
McKeag picked up two
pins before dropping the
title match to Chad Vilchez
of Prospect. Shierloh won
hhis third-place match by
an 8-6 decision over Sam
Hwang of Prospect.
Boys swimming and diving
New Trier’s youth depth leads to conference win over HP
Neil Milbert
Freelance Reporter
It was sort of a win-win
situation at the conclusion
of the dual swim meet
between defending state
champion New Trier and
host Highland Park on
Feb. 1.
The Trevians won the
meet 107-79 but the Giants
won seven of the 12
events.
“We had a lot of good
swims,” Highland Park
coach Tim Siros said. “It’s
great when you compete
against the defending state
champs. They’re having a
down year but they’re still
very, very good.”
Superior depth was the
secret of New Trier’s success.
In three individual
events — the 50-yard freestyle,
the 100-yard freestyle
and the 500-yard freestyle
— coach Josh Runkle’s
swimmers were 1-2-3 and
they had finishers in the top
three in every event.
“We’re very, very young
and very, very inexperienced,”
Runkle said. “Out
of 30 guys we’ve got five
seniors, a few juniors, a few
sophomores and a whole
lot of freshmen. We’re
slowly getting better.”
Junior Pearce Bailey
was in the forefront for
the Trevians, winning the
50 free and the 100 free,
swimming one of the legs
for the victorious 400 free
relay team and swimming
a leg for the 200 free relay
team that finished a close
second.
“Definitely, with all the
seniors leaving it has been
different this season,” said
Bailey, who anchored the
medley relay team that set
the state record last year.
“When we set the record
I was with three seniors.
This year I’m no longer
playing a supporting role
for the seniors and I’m doing
a lot of different things.
My times are good and my
relay splits are still good.”
Joining Bailey on the
400 free relay foursome
were Topher Shepherd, Rishi
Nair and Nick Torre.
The Trevians’ other conquests
came in the 500
free, where the winner was
Sam Dienstag, and in the
200 medley relay, where
the collaborators were
Torre, Sam Brown, Ethan
Chan and Marc Hagist.
Senior Andrew Vorobev,
junior Tobe Obochi and
senior Konrad Schmid excelled
for the Giants.
Vorobev won the 100-
yard butterfly and 100-
yard backstroke, swam the
anchor leg for the winning
200 free relay team and
the leadoff leg for both the
runner-up 400 free relay
team and the third place
200 medley relay team.
“Very good year and
very good meet,” said Vorobev,
the holder of six
school records. “I’ve improved
my skills a lot from
last year — my finishes,
my underwaters — all
those little things that kind
of add up.
“Last year I sprained an
ankle a week and a half
before state and I didn’t
do too great. This year
we have an opportunity to
send three, four, five or six
people to the state meet,
and it’s the first time since
I’ve been here that we
have an opportunity to do
that.”
Obochi captured the
200 free and the 100-yard
breaststroke and swam the
leadoff leg for the triumphant
200 free relay team.
He also swam the anchor
leg for the second place
400 free relay team.
Schmid finished first in
the 200-yard individual
medley and was a member
of the 400 free relay team
that earned second place
and the 200 medley relay
team that came in third.
His coach called him
“our unsung hero.”
“Konrad came up super
big for us,” Siros said. “He
had a really good individual
medley swim and a
couple of good relays too.
He works hard all the time;
he’s one of those self-made
swimmers.”
Junior Lucas Absler
secured the other victory
for Highland Park in the
200-meter diving event.