Contrary to recent Super Bowl history, the Fenwick Friars thankfully did not experience any wardrobe malfunctions on Saturday at the Metro Catholic Aquatics Conference swimming and diving championships. Instead, the tradition-rich Friars provided plenty of sartorial splendor, donning their “special occasion” black robes and looking every bit the part of a state contender en route to a strong second place finish (339 points) behind meet champion, Marmion (343 points).
Loyola (327), St. Ignatius (271) and Benet (252) rounded out the top five at the 12-team MCAC meet.
The host Friars captured first in four varsity events including the 200-yard medley relay with Mike Mackin, Brian Barron, Luke Baldwin and John Barrett (1:39.40), 400-yard freestyle relay with Tom Parolin, David Meyer, Baldwin and Barrett (3:14.02), 100 freestyle (Meyer, 48.14) and 50 freestyle (Barrett, 22.23).
“Our relay teams did pretty well which is always a key to success, especially at state,” said Baldwin, who plans on attending the U.S. Naval Academy. “I think a meet like this gets us into a racing mentality.”
In other individual events, Meyer placed third in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1 minute and 46.92 seconds, while Mackin took third in the 100-yard backstroke (54.99). Promising junior Andrew McKernin (2:05.64) and Mackin (2:08.74) finished fifth and eighth, respectively, in the 200-yard individual medley.
“I thought my swim was pretty good and it gives me a lot of confidence going into the sectional,” said Barrett about his 50 freestyle top showing. “This [meet] was huge because it’s like a mini-state meet. It’s very good competition. At the sectional, times don’t matter as long as we are under the cut for state.”
Although several of the Fenwick swimmers excelled during the meet, the star of the day was St. Patrick senior James Ridgeway. Ridgeway, who will swim at the University of Michigan next season, won the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard backstroke competitions in convincing fashion. He was selected as the Tony Lawless award winner honoring the MCAC meet’s most outstanding varsity swimmer.
“I swam some of my best times of the season and being able to drop time is always big for me,” Ridgeway said. “This conference is probably the best in the state, and it’s really cool to see all these guys swim so fast.”
Led by a plethora of impressive young swimmers like Chris Wendt, Dave Barron, Matt Napleton and Craig Borkovec, Fenwick won the Frosh/Soph meet with 363 points.
The Friars, who finished third at state last year, will host an IHSA sectional on Saturday, February 17. Diving begins at 9 a.m. followed by the swimming events at 1 p.m.
OPRF, who lost a dual meet 94-86 earlier in the year at Fenwick, and St. Patrick featuring Jeff Winter and Ridgeway could challenge the Friars, but Fenwick coach Dave Perry is primarily focused on his team’s performance.
“Overall, I was happy with our showing at the [Metro Catholic Conference Aquatics] meet,” Perry said. “We had some fast swims. I know the guys were a little disappointed that we finished second, but we closed the gap on Marmion. At the sectional, we need to do a good job for ourselves and the main goal is to make state.”
