If winning a 15th straight conference title can take a back seat, it did on Saturday.

The Chesterton boys swim team dominated the field by posting 496 points to best second-place Crown Point (349) and third place Lake Central (311) Saturday at CHS in the Duneland Athletic Conference Meet.

But, that wasn’t the focus of some of the Trojans.

“After Munster beat us (Thursday), all we talked about in practice was could we do to get the record back,” Chesterton senior Tyler Fozkos said.

The record, a pool record in the 400 Free Relay set by Munster at 3:04.70, would have to wait until the meet’s final event. But, the Trojans came through with a memorable performance from Blake Pieroni, Aaron Whitaker, Nick Borzych and Fozkos to win in 3:04.69.

“We had a great leadoff, Aaron and Nick swam great and I anchored it,” Fozkos said. “My first race freshman year we broke the Medley Record and today I’m leaving with the 400 (Free) Record. It’s just amazing.”

“Crown Point was loaded in that Relay too, so it helped that we knew we were going to get pushed,” Chesterton coach Kevin Kinel said. “That certainly helped us. It got that excitement and the adrenelin that was missing most of the day going. They knew this was their last shot at it.

“One-hundredth of a second isn’t really what we were looking for, but we’ll take it.”

The Trojans started defense of their title with a two-second victory in the 200 Medley Relay from Nick Brahos, Jack Wallar, Whitaker and Fozkos (1:37.00).

“Individual stuff doesn’t speak as much as being part of a team,” Fozkos said. “These records (and relay wins) mean more to me than everything else.”

Fozkos would start his individual victory string three events later with a win in the 50 Free (21.45) and follow that up with one in the 100 Free (47.82).

“The 50 was all right,” Fozkos said. “I had an ok start and knew coming home I could put it on cruise control. In the 100, I went out like normal and knew that (CP’s Blake) Yeager is a 200 swimmer so he’d have a big kick, but I held him off.”

“Tyler’s a championship kind of guy,” Kinel said. “He likes to race and he really brings it at these type of events.”

Fozkos was also named Duneland Athletic Conference MVP, a title he shared with Michigan City’s Cameron Miller.

“It was very fitting for he and Cameron Miller to share the DAC MVP award,” Kinel said. “They both have had such tremendous careers with all the things they’ve done. I’m really happy for both of them. They both deserved it.”

Trojan freshman Blake Pieroni won two individual titles with victories in the 200 Free (1:42.90) and the 500 Free (4:45.51). Classmate Aaron Whitaker won the 100 Fly (52.09) and came in second to Fozkos in the 50 Free (22.39).

“I said early on that this might be the best freshman class we’ve ever had and I think they’ve proven that to be true,” Kinel added mentioning Jack Wallar, Ethan Whitaker and Andy Hurst as well. “They are good kids and they are racers. They kind of get it.”

The Trojans other event title came in the 200 Free Relay from the quartet of Wallar, Nick Brahos, Nate Schuster and Pieroni (1:29.19) as they edged Crown Point (1:29.57).

It was more than enough to secure the team’s 15th consecutive team title.

“For us, I personally don’t understand it that much,” Fozkos said. “But, I know Coach talks about it a lot and it means the world to him. In the 80’s, Valpo used to wipe the floor with us and now we’re doing it to everybody else.”

“It is important,” Kinel said. “Every year, I say we have to reschedule the Munster meet because it’s so hard to come back on Saturday after Thursday. I was really worried about a letdown, but the kids did great up and down the line. I’m real proud of them.

“I told them that all the kids from all the preceding years would be really proud of them too. It wasn’t an easy day.”

The Trojans return to the pool on Tuesday at home against Highland beginning at 6 p.m. to finish off the regular season.

“Some of the people off of my first teams have kids of their own on my team’s now, both girls and boys,” Kinel said. “I tend to want to think of it as we’re coming of age instead of just age. It’s fun and it’s been a nice ride.”

1. Chesterton, 496; 2. Crown Point, 349; 3. Lake Central, 311; 4. Valparaiso, 269; 5. Michigan City, 225.5; 6. LaPorte, 199.5; 7. Portage, 170; 8. Merrillville, 83.

200 Medley Relay -- 1. Chesterton (Nick Brahos, Jack Wallar, Aaron Whitaker, Tyler Fozkos), 1:37.00; 2. Michigan City, 1:39.24; 3. Crown Point, 1:40.03; 4. Valparaiso, 1:43.27; 5. Lake Central, 1:44.98; 6. LaPorte, 1:46.70; 7. Portage, 1:49.47; 8. Merrillville, 1:52.47.

200 Free -- 1. Blake Pieroni ©, 1:42.90; 2. Blake Yeager (CP), 1:45.80; 3. Teryn Solan (LC), 1:50.92; 4. Ryan Byers (MC), 1:50.95; 5. Chris McGee ©, 1:51.28; 6. Ethan Whitaker ©, 1:52.42; 7. Luke Paprocki (LC), 1:52.50; 8. Aaron Dobben (L), 1:53.31.

200 IM -- 1. Cameron Miller (MC), 1:56.13 (DAC RECORD); 2. Dion Low (V), 1:58.64; 3. Jack Wallar ©, 2:02.49; 4. Nick Brahos ©, 2:04.60; 5. Nate Quinlan (MC), 2:05.99; 6. Andy Hurst ©, 2:08.60; 7. Brain Johnson (LC), 2:08.88; 8. AJ Seida (LC), 2:11.80.

50 Free -- 1. Tyler Fozkos ©, 21.45; 2. Aaron Whitaker ©, 22.39; 3. Marcus Trybula (CP), 22.55; 4. Mike Kukurubya (CP), 22.58; 5. Johnny Lynk (CP), 22.96; 6. Cole Ozbolt (P), 23.29; 7. Mike Skurka (LC), 23.31; 8. Ben Keller (V), 23.52.

1-Meter Diving -- 1. Josh Batten (L), 480.55; 2. Tony Trinoski (V), 449.15; 3. Tyler Croell (CP), 429.90; 4. Alex Olson ©, 421.00; 5. Ryan Hebda (LC), 401.90; 6. Zach Schwartz (V), 395.40; 7. Derek Smith (L), 383.60; 8. Alex Rosales (P), 382.95.

100 Fly -- 1. Aaron Whitaker ©, 52.09; 2. Dan Kvachkoff (CP), 53.80; 3. Joel Gentler (CP), 54.50; 4. Nick Borych ©, 55.55; 5. Jordan McRae (CP), 56.27; 6. Collin Buckles ©, 56.86; 7. Andrew Reeseman (LC), 58.23; 8. Conner Sunday (V), 58.90.

100 Free -- 1. Tyler Fozkos ©, 47.82; 2. Blake Yeager (CP), 48.08; 3. Johnny Lynk (CP), 49.06; 4. Marcus Trybula (CP), 49.12; 5. Austin Butcher (L), 49.86; 6. Luke Paprocki (LC), 50.75; 7. Joe Gerard ©, 51.27; 8. Patrick Curley ©, 51.56.

500 Free -- 1. Blake Pieroni ©, 4:45.51; 2. Teryn Solan (LC), 4:53.26; 3. Ethan Whitaker ©, 5:00.75; 4. Chris McGue ©, 5:05.51; 5. Aaron Dobben (L), 5:09.10; 6. Matthew Cain (V), 5:09.25; 7. Kevin Elkins (P), 5:15.66; 8. Tim Blue (V), 5:18.00.

200 Free Relay -- 1. Chesterton (Jack Wallar, Nick Brahos, Nate Schuster, Blake Pieroni), 1:29.19; 2. Crown Point, 1:29.57; 3. Michigan City, 1:30.60; 4. Lake Central, 1:32.77; 5. Valapraiso, 1:39.10; 6. LaPorte, 1:40.54; 7. Portage, 1:41.85; 8. Merrillville, 1:46.81.

100 Back -- 1. Mike Kukurugya (CP), 54.85; 2. Nick Brahos ©, 55.51; 3. Ryan Byers (MC), 56.43; 4. Nick Borzych ©, 56.53; 5. Austin Burcher (L), 57.07; 6. Matthew Cain (V), 57.17; 7. Brandon Egrebrecht (LC), 57.51; 8. Cole Ozbolt (P), 58.01.

100 Breast -- 1. Cameron Miller (MC), 58.40 (DAC RECORD); 2. Nate Quinlan (MC), 1:00.20; 3. Dion Low (V), 1:00.43; 4. Jack Wallar ©, 1:01.62; 5. Dan Kvachkoff (CP), 1:02.66; 6. Patrick Curley ©, 1:03.24; 7. Matt Quinlan (MC), 1:03.52; 8. Collin Ringas ©, 1:04.06.

400 Free Relay -- 1. Chesterton (Blake Pieroni, Aaron Whitaker, Nick Boryzch, Tyler Fozkos), 3:11.69 (DAC RECORD, POOL RECORD); 2. Crown Point, 3:14.41; 3. Lake Central, 3:23.29; 4. Valparaiso, 3:27.21; 5. LaPorte, 3:29.17; 6. Portage, 3:34.98; 7. Michigan City, 3:47.07; 8. Merrillville, 3:49.65.

　Posted 1/31/2011