The Riverside-Brookfield Invitational certainly was a competitive swim meet on Saturday. St. Ignatius won the invite with 315 points in the nine-team field, followed by Lockport (256.5), Andrew (251.5), Oswego (241) and RB (221) to round out the hotly contested remaining spots in the top five. Shepard (106) and U-High (88) also performed well.
“You don’t often see the scores that close in a meet,” said RB coach Todd Fridrych. “Our guys had an outstanding meet. I could not have hoped for anything better. This gives us a shot of confidence going into our big meets the rest of the year.”
Kyle Miller swam a season-best 5:09.98 to finish second in the 500-yard freestyle. Miller also took sixth in the 200-yard freestyle (1:56.34). Senior Mike Callahan took third in diving with 282.10 points, while sophomore John Copp finished fourth in the 200 IM, touching the wall at 2:16.80.
The RB relay teams also performed well as Vince Pozzie, Peter Falk, Fitz Robling and Jerry Brown finished third in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 134.90. In the 400-yard freestyle relay Falk, Miller, Isaac Lauritsen and Billy Fuener posted a 3:39.89 for sixth place.
The 200-yard medley relay was one of the best races of the day. St. Ignatius and Lockport finished first and second, respectively, both breaking the previous meet record. The Bulldogs’ team of Sean DeMuro, Fuener, Copp and Brown took fifth with a season-best 147.81.
“I really like our group,” Fridrych said. “We have guys who are very team-oriented, work hard and hustle.”
On the frosh-soph relays, the Bulldogs garnered a pair of first place finishes in the 200-yard medley relay and 200-yard freestyle relay. DeMuro, Pozzie, Copp and Luke Keller came within 9/10ths of a second of RB’s school record in the 200-yard medley. Dylan Alarcon, Nick Lazzara, Keller and DeMuro won the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:42.11)
“Our young kids are really solid,” Fridrych said. “In a couple of years when these guys are seniors, and with the kids we’ll have coming in, we will have a formidable lineup. Our program is really moving in the right direction.”
The Bulldogs, who will participate in the Lockport Invite this Saturday, are gearing up for their Metro Suburban Conference Meet on Feb. 6, closely followed by sectional/state competition.
“I’m excited to see what we can do the rest of the season,” said Fridrych.
