Varga advances to IHSA state finals
By Fred Kroner
The magic numbers for the Mahomet-Seymour boys’ swimming team on Saturday (Feb. 18) in the 24-school Urbana Sectional were 14, five and one.
Fourteen is the number of personal-bests set by Bulldog swimmers.
Five is the number of school records which were shattered.
One is the number of individual sectional champions produced by M-S, which resulted in the school gaining its first-ever state-meet qualifier.
Record-setting Aron Varga reduced his school mark in the 100-yard breaststroke, winning the event in 1 minute, 0.30 seconds. His previous best was 1:03.06.
He advances to the state finals, which will start on Friday (Feb. 24) in Westmont at the FMC Natatorium.
The runner-up in the breaststroke was Sullivan junior Isaac Chambers (1:01.25). The sectional race had 24 competitors.
At state, there will be 41 competitors in the breaststroke. The state leader is Hinsdale Central sophomore Joshua Bey (54.89 seconds).
Varga, a junior, placed third in the 200-yard individual medley, lowering his school-record time from 2:03.10 to 1:59.47.
Teammate Owen Kearns was a near-miss for state in the 500-yard freestyle. He was the runner-up, breaking the school record he held (5:03.33) by more than 12 seconds. His new school record is 4:50.52.
He also shattered his own M-S mark in the 200-yard freestyle, dropping it from 1:54.09 to 1:49.82. He finished third in that event.
The Bulldogs’ other school record was a combined effort. The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Owen Kearns, Emmett Kearns, Aaron Smith and Varga took down a mark that had stood for more than a decade.
Their combined time was 3:28.14 and they wound up in third place. The previous standard, established in 2010, was 3:35.11. The swimmers were N. Ross, J. Schuh, A. Williams and D. Schuh.
Another M-S relay, the 200-yard medley unit, posted its season-best mark (1:44.11) while coming in fourth at the sectional. Smith, Varga, Owen Kearns and Emmett Kearns were the swimmers.
The Bulldogs had top 12 finishers in three other events at the sectional. In each event, the top 12 performers scored points for the team.
Emmett Kearns landed in ninth place in the 200-yard freestyle (1:54.53). and added an eighth-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle (5:18.41).
Smith took 12th in the 100-yard backstroke (1:03.99).
Every M-S performer who finished among the top 12 individuals registered a season-best time.
In the team chase, M-S captured fourth place with 123 points.
The top three teams were Champaign Central (274 points), Centennial (167 points) and Urbana (142 points).
Other Bulldogs recording their personal-best times in two events were Smith in the 50-yard freestyle (24.78 seconds) as well as in the 50-yard backstroke, from the relay leadoff leg (28.80 seconds), Jerry Pryor in the 50-yard freestyle (26.53) and the 100-yard freestyle (59.72) as well as Matthew Kirby in the 200-yard individual medley (2:44.06) and the 100-yard backstroke (1;09.48).
Setting their personal-bests in one event were Avery Rosa in the 100-yard freestyle (1:03.20), Kameron Bartels in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:20.67), Ethan Whittaker in the 50-yard freestyle, from the leadoff leg (26.74 seconds) and Owen Kearns in the 100-yard freestyle, also from a relay leadoff leg (50.41 seconds).
