Bulldogs’ Kissel dives headlong toward state

Riverside Brookfield High School senior Nate Kissel used a personal-best score at sectionals to be the 45th of 49 divers to qualify for the 2024 boys swimming and diving state meet. The opportunity helped Kissel realize that his best could be better.

“That [state berth] really inspired me to work harder because I saw the potential,” Kissel said. “I made it there, but this year I wanted to improve and kind of build on that so I could perform better at state.” 

Kissel displayed that progress Friday by finishing third at the 67th annual RBHS Invite with 394.70 points, his highest total for 11 dives this season. Senior Aiden Pankros also finished third in the 100-yard butterfly (55.52) during Saturday’s swimming. 

Jake Kocourek (500 free in 5:16.89) and the 200 freestyle relay with Henry Manning, Avinesh Ponnappan, Michael Kallas and Pankros (1:34.96) were sixth, and the 400 free relay of Manning, Kallas, Kocourek and Pankros was seventh (3:32.82). The Bulldogs finished eighth (73 points).

This has been the first extremely busy offseason for Kissel, who began club training at the University of Illinois Chicago with Marcel Harris and former longtime Notre Dame diving coach Caiming Xie.

“It’s been really rewarding,” Kissel said. “I was really happy how [Friday] turned out with all of the practice I’ve been doing at [UIC]. I would like to say it’s a personal-best meet, even though the score doesn’t represent that.”

Kissel had three 40-point dives Friday with a performance he felt was comparable to last year’s sectional, which he said had consistently higher scores. At 2024 state, Kissel finished 45th (156.25 for five dives) after his personal-best fourth-place 424.40 at sectionals surpassed the 416.20 at-large cut. As a sophomore, his 380.40 at sectionals missed the at-large state cut of 399.20.

“I would say my approach has improved a lot and comfortability and timing on the board has gotten a lot better into the dive,” Kissel said. “I think my strongest divers are the ones that are less flips and rely more on form and technique. That’s where my strong suit’s at.”

Kissel’s state goal is to at least make the top-20 cut for three more dives. The top 16 after eight dives compete three more dives in Saturday’s finals. 

“That would be awesome. I’m here to support his goals, whatever they are,” RBHS diving coach Amy Phillips said. “He’s been working really hard and I’ve seen a lot of improvement. His harder dives have become more consistent and he’s gotten better entries and more height on his takeoffs. He’s just gotten a little bit stronger and more confident.” 

Boys bowling

The Lyons Township boys bowling team advanced to the Lisle Sectional Jan. 25 by taking third at the Glenbard East Regional (6,020 pins) Saturday at Bowlero in Glendale Heights.

The Lions, who qualified with a top-four finish, also need a top-four sectional finish for an unprecedented fourth straight team state berth. 

Senior Danny Hanley finished fourth with a six-game 1,328 series and 243 high game. Sophomore Anthony Bonilla (14th, 1,232 series, 242 high game) and senior Gabe Paszyna (21st, 1,176 series, 235 high game) also were top 25, followed by seniors Nolan Deines (905 for 5 games) and Conner Krisher (827 for 4 games) and juniors James Praser (353 for 2 games) and Logan Allison (199 for 1 game).

In its debut season, Riverside Brookfield was 10th (4,770). Freshman Teddy Kowalski (1,081, 238 high game) and junior Finn Lubeck (1,019, 200 high game) bowled all six games with Kowalski 75 pins from the last individual sectional qualifier. Seniors Ben O’Brien (487), Cal Milchhoefer (459), Peter Gardiner (446), Rylan Bruno (440), Ronnie Murray (427) and Josh Udelson (411) bowled three games each. 

Nazareth Academy had two individual qualifiers in juniors Joey Diaz (1,185, 243 high game) and Chris Martinez (1,156, 258 high game), the last qualifier, by being among the top 10 bowlers not part of the advancing teams. Sophomore Cashmere Coleman (1,098), junior Vince Guidice (1,065) and senior David Patton (976) also competed for the eighth-place Roadrunners (5,480). 

LTHS boys swimming and diving

The Lions were sixth (218 points) at New Trier’s Trevian Relays Saturday against many of the state’s best teams. 

The 200 free relay (1:27.74) and 400 free relay (3:13.20) both took fourth. Lachlan Gantt was fifth in the 100 free (48.56), Matthew Ferguson was seventh in the 500 free (1:48.03) and Jack Hannon was ninth in the 50 free (22.60) and 100 free (49.58).

The Lions defeated Oak Park and River Forest 134-52 Friday.