Relay: Chesterton’s Relay team of (l to r) Taylor Zakhar, Matt Rosiecki, Kyle Whitaker and Tyler Fozkos won the State Championship in the 200 Free and were second in the 200 IM. (Tribune photo by TR Harlan)

They weren’t able to make it three in a row, but it certainly wasn’t from a lack of effort.

The Chesterton Boys Swimming and Diving team finished third overall at the 73rd IHSAA State Finals in Indianapolis on Saturday afternoon, but brought home four event State Titles.

Carmel took top honors with 245 points, while Munster was second at 217. The Trojans finished third with 153 ahead of Hamilton Southeastern (138) and Fishers (126).

“I think if you add up the heat sheets before prelims, we were 14th or 15th,” Chesterton coach Kevin Kinel said. “We maximized about every scoring opportunity we had. I’m so proud of these guys.”

The Trojans became a factor in the meet immediately as they finished second in the 200 Medley Relay. The quartet of Kyle Whitaker, Matt Rosiecki, Tyler Fozkos and Taylor Zakhar finished in 1:33.91.

That was followed by one of the day’s feature events as Whitaker set out in pursuit of a 4-for-4 career in the 200 IM and his own National Record. Mission accomplished.

“I thought it was a pretty good race,” Whitaker said after finishing in 1:44.55. “My butterfly and backstroke splits weren’t where I wanted them to be, but the back end of the race was lights out. It felt pretty good.

“I have to be happy. It’s a national record. Let’s see if it holds up for the next couple of years.”

Whitaker became only the third male to win a single event four times. The other two were Joe Sheehy of Columbus in the 100 Fly (1963-66) and Josh Mikesell of Crawfordsville in the 100 Back (1985-88).

“From the beginning of freshman year, this is my favorite race,” Whitaker said. “I built on it each year, but it’s a great landmark to reach.”

The trip to top of the medal stand continued as Fozkos won the 50 Free for the second consecutive year in 20.84.

“You just have to have a great start,” Fozkos said. “Coming off the turn you just have to power through. The whole race is firing all cylinders and then the last 25 is just having more heart than everyone else.

“About 10 meters out, I knew everybody would close fast and I just had to be faster.”

“Tyler is tremendous,” Kinel said. “It’s really nice that he’s back next year and will have all this State experience to build on.”

After the Diving competition, Fozkos was the first Trojan into the pool as he finished second in the 100 Free (45.84) to Hamilton Southeastern’s Nathan Kinney (45.51).

“We’ve had our share of trouble this year in manufacturing depth and once we decided on a State lineup, these guys really bought into it,” Kinel said. “We won four events and were second in two others. It was a magical weekend.”

One event later, Whitaker became the most decorated swimmer in State history with a victory in the 500 Free. On his way, he broke his own State Record.

“Each year you have to set new goals and this year I had a new event,” Whitaker said. “There’s always something to shoot for. I’m happy with the swim, 4:19 is pretty good. It’s fun to go out and swim fast.”

“The thing that I’ve learned working with Kyle is to have challenges and to look higher than you might normally have looked,” Kinel said. “That’s the kind of kid he is. His legacy will live on at Chesterton.

“We basically put all the weight on Kyle and Tyler’s shoulders and they came through huge. That’s a testament to those two.”

Whitaker immediately teamed with Fozkos, Zakhar and Rosiecki again to win the 200 Free Relay in 1:24.39.

“It’s my first State Championship medal and that’s pretty cool,” Zakhar said. “It was a lot of fun swimming with the fastest kids in the State. Giving a lead to Kyle really put a smile on my face because you know they aren’t going to catch him and he’ll blow everyone out of the water. I knew that race was over.”

“There are four guys on a Relay,” Kinel said. “Matt and Taylor did what they had to do. They kept us in it, under some enormous pressure, to give Tyler and Kyle a chance to win.”

Chesterton’s final points of the day came from the 400 Free Relay as the quartet of Zakhar, Rosiecki, Joe Gerard and Nate Schuster finished 16th in 3:15.81.

“Success breeds success,” Kinel said. “We lose some tremendous swimmers and people, but we have some quality club kids coming in next year that will have a chance to keep this going.”

1. Carmel, 245; 2. Munster, 217; 3. Chesterton, 153; 4. Hamilton Southeastern, 138; 5. Fishers, 126; 6. Bloomington South, 102; 7. Indianapolis North Central, 90; 8. Seymour, 84; 9. Northridge, 82; 10. Homestead, 76; 18. Michigan City, 41; 20. Portage, 40; 29. Valparaiso, 16; 33. LaPorte, 14; 50. Crown Point, 3.

200 Medley Relay – 1. Munster, 1:33.30; 2. Chesterton (Kyle Whitaker, Matt Rosiecki, Tyler Fozkos, Taylor Zakhar), 1:33.91; 3. Hamilton Southeastern, 1:35.46; 4. Seymout, 1:35.51; 5. Indpls. North Central, 1:36.10; 6. Northridge, 1:36.66; 7. Carmel, 1:36.80; 8. Zionsville, DQ.

200 Free – 1. Matt Gerth (Carmel), 1:40.08; 2. Ethan Jamrose (Fisher), 1:40.20; 3. Daniel Hasler (Park Tudor), 1:40.94; 4. Alex Grissom (Franklin), 1:42.28; 5. Nathan Hopkins (Westfield), 1:42.35; 6. Jonathan Astash (Carmel), 1:42.84; 7. Michael Mohler (Plainfield), 1:43.02; 8. Zachary Blanken (Jeffersonville), 1:44.01; 25. Taylor Zakhar (Chesterton), 1:47.04.

200 IM – 1. Kyle Whitaker (Chesterton), 1:44.55 (STATE RECORD, NATIONAL RECORD); 2. Nik Astashinsky (Carmel), 1:50.30; 3. Cameron Miller (Michigan City), 1:51.67; 4. Addison Bray (Terre Haute South), 1:52.59; 5. Joe Wulf (Munster), 1:52.66; 6. Jonathon Dance (Fishers), 1:52.86; 7. Dillon Thompson (Munster), 1:53.12; 8. Michael Vinyard (Carmel), 1:53.20.

50 Free – 1. Tyler Fozkos (Chesterton), 20.84; 2. Kameron Chastain (Seymour), 21.00; 3. Harrison Wagner (Indpls. Brebeuf), 21.22; 4. Adam Ferendo (Lawrence North), 21.49; 5. Keanu Stevenson (Castle), 21.53; 6. Ben Scheurich (Rensselaer Central), 21.61; 7. Michael Richlin (Concord), 21.82; 8. Brock Slavens (Franklin Central), 21.84.

1-Meter Diving – 1. Darian Schmidt (Bloomington South), 532.40; 2. Danton Rogers (Bloomington South), 521.25; 3. Alec Back (Portage), 481.15; 4. Andrew Cramer (Indpls. Cathedral), 450.40; 5. Joshua Batten (LaPorte), 445.65; 6. Hank Dusard (Bedford North-Lawrence), 428.85; 7. Derrick Penning (Whiteland), 417.35; 8. Shane Wycoff (West Vigo), 413.65; 17. Alex Olson (Chesterton), 250.55.

100 Fly – 1. Kevin Behrens (Munster), 48.46; 2. Chris Schreier (Portage), 50.57; 3. John Van Dyke (Tri-West), 50.60; 4. Blake Johnson (Hamilton Southeastern), 50.76; 5. Peter Lyon (Zionsville), 51.18; 6. Bryce Timonera (Batesville), 51.22; 7. Jeremy Rose (Concord), 51.98; 8. Nathaniel Stoll (Northridge), 52.41.

100 Free – 1. Nathan Kinney (Hamilton Southeastern), 45.51; 2. Tyler Fozkos (Chesterton), 45.84; 3. Matt Gerth (Carmel), 46.00; 4. Andrew Cato (Franklin Central), 46.36; 5. Ben Scheurich (Rensselaer Central), 47.14; 6. Michael Oaks (Franklin), 47.32; 7. Jonathan Astash (Carmel), 47.36; 8. Michael Richlin (Concord), 47.82.

500 Free – 1. Kyle Whitaker (Chesterton), 4:19.79 (STATE RECORD); 2. Daniel Hasler (Park Tudor), 4:34.03; 3. Ethan Jamrose (Fishers), 4:34.10; 4. Evan Oleson (Westfield), 4:37.03; 5. Dillon Thompson (Munster), 4:37.53; 6. Terry Peoples (Concord), 4:37.97; 7. Nathan Hopkins (Westfield), 4:39.36; 8. David Zoltowski (West Lafayette), 4:43.19.

200 Free Relay – 1. Chesterton (Matt Rosiecki, Tyler Fozkos, Taylor Zakhar, Kyle Whitaker), 1:24.39; 2. Carmel, 1:25.70; 3. Bloomington South, 1:26.51; 4. Fishers, 1:26.57; 5. Northridge, 1:26.68; 6. Indpls. Brebeuf, 1:26.93; 7. Munster, 1:27.04; 8. Castle, DQ.

100 Back – 1. Kevin Behrens (Munster), 49.51; 2. Nik Astashinsky (Carmel), 50.25; 3. Nathan Kinney (Hamilton Southeastern), 50.34; 4. Andrew Cato (Franklin Central), 50.96; 5. James Costin (Indpls. North Central), 52.13; 6. Cam Wiethoff (Seymour), 52.31; 7. Justin Rossillo (Hamilton Southeastern), 52.42; 8. Michael Kline (Crawfordsville), 52.67.

100 Breast – 1. Kameron Chastain (Seymour), 55.41; 2. Cameron Miller (Michigan City), 55.59; 3. Addison Bray (Terre Haute South), 55.81; 4. Joe Wulf (Munster), 55.85; 5. Keanu Stevenson (Castle), 56.51; 6. Grant Schwarz (Center Grove), 57.76; 7. John Stuy (Carmel), 58.14; 8. Seth Essington (Hamilton Southeastern), 58.84.

400 Free Relay – 1. Carmel, 3:06.56; 2. Munster, 3:07.46; 3. Fishers, 3:09.66; 4. Hamilton Southeastern, 3:10.04; 5. Homestead, 3:11.03; 6. Franklin, 3:11.98; 7. Zionsville, 3:12.72; 8. Noblesville, 3:13.84; 16. Chesterton (Taylor Zakhar, Nate Schuster, Joe Gerard, Matt Rosiecki), 3:15.81.

Posted 3/1/2010