Mahomet-Seymour swimming finishes second at LaSalle-Peru

By Fred Kroner

Mahomet-Seymour swimmers won four events and placed second in six others on Wednesday (Jan. 18) while finishing in second place in a three-school meet at LaSalle-Peru.

Aron Varga was a two-event individual winner, taking top honors for the Bulldogs in the 200-yard freestyle (1 minute 54.75 seconds) as well as the 100-yard butterfly (58.95 seconds).

He was also part of the 400-yard freestyle relay, teaming up with Jeremiah Pryor, Matthew Kirby and Owen Kearns for a time of 3:51.86.

The Bulldogs’ other individual winner was Kearns in the 100-yard backstroke (1:01.61).

The 200-yard freestyle relay team swam to a second-place finish. The Bulldog foursome consisted of Varga, Aaron Smith, Emmett Kearns and Owen Kearns. Their cumulative time was 1:38.11.

Securing runner-up finishes for M-S were Owen Kearns (200-yard freestyle in 2:09.15), Pryor (50-yard freestyle in 27.44 seconds), Smith (100-yard freestyle in 58.59 seconds) and Emmett Kearns (100-yard breaststroke in 1:12.12).

Owen Kearns made his freestyle race tougher by swimming the butterfly for the entire distance.

Also placing second was the M-S 200-yard medley unit of Smith, Emmett Kearns, Kirby and Avery Rosa (2:08.87).

The Bulldogs took third in three events.

Kirby was third in the 50-yard freestyle (28.52 seconds) and the 500-yard freestyle (6:19.34).

Rosa was third in the 100-yard freestyle (1:08.34).

LaSalle-Peru’s winning team score was 127 points. M-S was close behind, with 115 points. Olympia registered 23 points.

M-S (8-4) returns to action on Thursday (Jan. 19) at Urbana in a meet that also includes Charleston.

“The boys swam tired and off events, coming off a couple of really hard practices,” M-S coach Erich O’Donnell said. “While the score and some of the times don’t reflect all the improvements, it’s apparent that the team is going to be ready at the end of the season to swim very well.”