Mahomet-Seymour Swimming finishes sixth at Bloomington Invitational
By Fred Kroner
Owen Kearns and Aron Varga each won an individual event and helped a Mahomet-Seymour relay to victory on Saturday (Dec. 16) in the 16-school Bloomington boys’ swimming invitational.
Kearns won the 200-yard freestyle in 1 minute, 50.79 seconds. Varga was victorious in the 200-yard individual medley (2:03.01).
Kearns and Varga teamed up with Emmett Kearns and Matthew Kirby for a first-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:34.58).
The Bulldogs produced runner-up finishes in four events.
Varga was second in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:02.63), Emmett Kearns was second in the 100-yard freestyle (51.59 seconds), Owen Kearns was second in the 500-yard freestyle (5:05.05).
The same four swimmers who were members of the winning 200-yard freestyle relay team also helped the M-S 400-yard freestyle relay to a runner-up finish. Their combined time was 3:32.08.
Additionally, Emmett Kearns was sixth in the 50-yard freestyle (23.47 seconds) and Kirby placed eighth in the 100-yard backstroke (1:06.40) as well as ending 11th in the 200-yard freestyle (2:09.88).
“I’m really happy with our performances,” M-S coach Erich O’Donnell said. “The boys showed quite a bit of improvement in several key areas and some guys really stepped up when they needed to.
“There were multiple season- and lifetime-bests. Overall, a great team effort.”
The meet champion was Hinsdale South (249 points), followed by Champaign Central (240) and Springfield (220 ½). M-S was sixth with 207 points.
The Bulldogs return to action on Saturday (Jan. 6) in the Centennial Invitational, in Champaign.
