Boys Swimming: Highland Park’s medley relay team cuts its close
by Mark Perlman Contributor February 21, 2012 11:00PM
Highland Park's Jacob Humerick contends in the 100 butterfly in Saturday's sectional at New Trier. | Tracy Allen~for Sun-Times Media
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Updated: March 24, 2012 8:55AM
Highland Park High School boys swimming coach Tim Sirois couldn’t have been happier with the performance his Giants delivered at the New Trier Sectional on Saturday.
“It was excellent performances across the board,” Sirois said.
But a shaky performance almost marred the day. The strong 200-yard medley relay team upset Niles North in the Central Suburban League North conference meet a week earlier at the Deerfield pool. The cutoff time to qualify for the state meet was 1:38.88 — certainly well within the foursome’s range in the New Trier pool.
“The kids were very conservative on their exchanges. No one was aggressive,” Sirois said. “I was thinking, ‘Oh, my gosh,’ but they made it.”
Not by much though, as the team touched at 1:38.74 (5th place).
“It was definitely not one of our best swims,” Sirois said. “But everyone swam well in the water after the starts.”
Sophomore Ben Laedlein led off with the backstroke, followed by senior Zach Weiner in the breaststroke, senior Jacob Humerick in the butterfly and senior Jake Zuckerman bringing it home in the freestyle leg.
“Ben swam his best time of the year (26.4). Zach had an exceptional swim (27.1). He’s been consistent all year,” Sirois said. “Jacob was like a rocket underwater in the fly (24.0), and Jake had an unbelievable split (21.3) to bring it home.”
Sirois looks forward to the team’s performance at the state meet in the Evanston pool, with preliminaries set for 3:30 p.m. Friday; the finals begin at 1 p.m. Saturday.
“I know we’ve got some great swims ahead,” Sirois said about the medley relay. “We’re going to be aggressive (on exchanges) and work on a few other things. We’re definitely pointing towards a medal (top 12).”
The Giants finished 15th in the medley relay at State last year.
Zuckerman also qualified for State in the 50 freestyle, in 21.79.
“Jake swam excellent,” Sirois said. “He could have been a little more explosive (at the start), but his turn and finish were phenomenal. He’s a mentally tough kid.”
Regarding the state meet, Sirois said that Zuckerman has room to drop time, especially when he tapers.
“He’s ready to go,” Sirois said. “We’re going to work a little on his hand position. Jake’s got a shot for Saturday (finals).”
Sirois pointed to two other strong sectional performances — in particular, Weiner in the 100 breaststroke and Humerick in the 100 butterfly. Weiner finished in 1:01.77, with the qualifying time at 1:01.28, while Humerick touched the wall in 54.06, with the qualifying time at 53.3.
“It was a couple of heartbreakers, but both had great swims — lifetime bests,” Sirois said. “They ought to hold their heads high.”
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