Kearns breaks school record for second consecutive meet

By Fred Kroner

For the second consecutive meet, senior Owen Kearns broke a school record for the Mahomet-Seymour boys’ swimming team.

In a Tuesday (Dec. 12) meet at Centennial against Champaign Central and Danville, Kearns lowered the M-S mark in the 100-yard backstroke to 57.74 seconds.

The previous standard (59.11) was held by Aron Varga and had stood since 2022.

Kearns was a double winner in individual events on Tuesday. Besides the 100 backstroke, he was also triumphant in the 100-yard butterfly (55.55 seconds).

Varga was the Bulldogs’ other individual winner, placing first in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:03.68).

Also capturing a win was the M-S 200-yard freestyle relay, which featured Kearns, Matthew Kirby, Arya Malapaka and Varga. Their combined time was 1:41.64.

Kirby was the runner-up in the 500-yard freestyle (6:04.28) and Varga took second in the 200-yard freestyle (1:52.01).

M-S’ 400-yard freestyle relay also placed second in 3:51.58. The relay included Kirby, Kearns, Malapaka and Varga.

Malapaka ended third in the 200-yard individual medley (2:26.41).

Also taking third was the Bulldogs’ 200-yard medley relay. Teaming up for a composite time of 2:23.32 were Titus Avery, Evan Powell, Jonathan Andrawes and Noah Dyson.

In the team chase, Central was first with 147 points, followed by M-S (102 points) and Danville (22 points).

Kearns’ previous school record this season came in the 100 butterfly.

M-S (3-2) returns to action on Saturday (Dec. 16) at the Bloomington Invitational.