By Fred Kroner
Mahomet-Seymour’s boys’ swimming team won 10 of 11 events in a three-school meet on Thursday (Jan 12) and captured a second-place finish in nine events.
M-S blitzed host Stanford Olympia, 107-25 and overpowered Lincoln, 105-9.
Three Bulldogs were involved in first-place finishes in the maximum number of events they could enter (four).
Junior Owen Kearns won the 200-yard individual medley (2 minutes, 16.84 seconds) and the 100-yard freestyle (55.19 seconds).
He also teamed up with Matthew Kirby, Emmett Kearns and Aron Varga for a win in the 200-yard medley relay (1:57.02).
In the 400-yard freestyle relay, Owen Kearns was joined by Jeremiah Pryor, Aaron Smith and Varga for a winning time of 3:59.69.
Freshman Emmett Kearns was the titlist in the 100-yard butterfly (1:04.68) and the 100-yard breaststroke (1:12.74).
Besides swimming on the winning medley relay, Emmett Kearns was a member of the first-place 200-yard freestyle relay (1:50.95). He was joined by Pryor, Kirby and Smith.
Varga’s individual wins were in the 500-yard freestyle (5:14.51) and the 100-yard backstroke (59.45 seconds).
Besides helping two relays to first place, Smith was the individual champion in the 200-yard freestyle (2:19.88). Smith was also the runner-up in the 100-yard backstroke (1:09.52).
Placing second in two events were three Bulldogs. Kameron Bartels was the runner-up in the 50-yard freestyle (29.93 seconds) and the 100-yard breaststroke (1:31.65).
Pryor placed second in the 200-yard freestyle (2:26.35) and the 100-yard freestyle (1:02.09).
Kirby wound up as the runner-up in the 200 individual medley (2:51.69) and the 500-yard freestyle (6:25.40).
Two M-S relays placed in the No. 2 spot.
The 200-yard freestyle relay foursome of Avery Rosa, Noah Dyson, Titus Avery and Ethan Whittaker were timed in 2:18.12.
In the 400-yard freestyle relay, Wayne Schwaiger, Lukas Holleman, Rosa and Bartels finished in 4:53.22.
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On Saturday (Jan 14), the Bulldogs were second in a three-school meet at Centennial.
The host Chargers totaled 242 points to win the meet. M-S had 150 points and third-place Metamora ended with 117 points.
Owen Kearns rebroke the school record in the 200-yard freestyle. His winning time was 1 minute, 54.15 seconds.
Until earlier this season, the school mark in the event had stood since 2010. In the past month, it has been broken three times, first by Kearns and later by Varga (1:54.36).
In all, M-S had 15 top-five performances at Centennial.
Varga was the other individual winner for M-S at Centennial. He topped the field in the 200-yard individual medley (2:05.71) and in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:04.24).
Two Bulldog relays also captured the top prize.
The 200-yard freestyle relay foursome of Varga, Smith, Emmett Kearns and Owen Kearns was timed in 1:37.69.
The triumphant 400-yard freestyle relay featured Owen Kearns, Emmett Kerns, Pryor and Varga. Their combined time was 3:44.75.
In the same event, M-S pulled off a fifth-place finish with a second entry.
The grouping of Kirby, Rosa, Holleman and Whittaker was clocked in 4:39.46.
Emmett Kearns earned runner-up finishes in both the 200-yard freestyle (2:00.16) and the 500-yard freestyle (5:30.62) while Owen Kearns was second in the 100-yard butterfly (58.51 seconds).
Smith swam to a third-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke (1:06.57).
Individuals taking fourth for M-S were Pryor in the 500-yard freestyle (6:49.34) and Kirby in the 100-yard backstroke (1:14.94).
An M-S relay entry in the 200-yard medley was also fourth. The Bulldogs’ swimmers were Smith, Rosa, Bartels and Pryor. They were timed in 2:15.03.
Contributing fifth-place finishes for M-S were Kirby in the 200-yard freestyle (2:21.04) and Smith in the 50-yard freestyle (26.48 seconds).
M-S (7-3) returns to action on Wednesday (Jan. 18) at Stanford Olympia in a meet that will also include LaSalle-Peru.
