Varga, Kearns and 200-yard freestyle relay team secure State meet
By Fred Kroner
Mahomet-Seymour qualified two individuals and one relay for the boys’ swimming state meet during an 11-school sectional tournament on Saturday (Feb. 17) at Centennial High School.
The Bulldogs also shattered eight school records and finished with a strong third-place team showing.
Seniors Aron Varga (200-yard individual medley) and Owen Kearns (500-yard freestyle) are the M-S individual state-qualifiers.
They won their events and broke school records in the process.
Vargas’ IM time was 1:56.70. He was victorious by 1.36 seconds.
Kearns’ time in the 500-yard freestyle was 4:46.81. His margin of victory was 26.04 seconds.
Both Varga and Kearns were on the 200-yard freestyle relay team, which secured a state berth. They teamed up with Emmett Kearns and Matthew Kirby for a cumulative time of 1:29.70. They won by 1.40 and established a new school record.
Varga’s leadoff leg time of 21.97 was a school record for the 50-yard freestyle.
Varga and Kearns combined to set four school records for the day.
They were each members of the second-place 400-yard freestyle relay team – along with Kirby and Emmett Kearns. Their combined time was 3:23.70.
Owen Kearns also broke the mark in the 200-yard freestyle, where he took third in 1:46.00. Varga also lowered the standard in the 100-yard breaststroke to 59.76 seconds. He was the runner-up in the event.
Owen Kearns’ time on the leadoff leg of the 400 freestyle relay was 49.41 seconds, which qualifies as the school record for the 100-yard freestyle.
Emmett Kearns produced the Bulldogs’ other two top-six performances. He tied for fourth in the 50-yard freestyle (22.19 seconds) and ended sixth in the 100-yard freestyle (49.45 seconds).
The sectional team champion was Champaign Central (233 points), followed by Springfield (159) and M-S (148).
The Bulldogs finished directly in front of two schools (Centennial and Urbana) whom they had lost to during the regular season.
The state-qualifiers will return to action on Friday (Feb. 23) at the FMC Natatorium at Ty Warner Park in suburban Westmont.
