State Champions: The Chesterton boys swim team won the school’s first-ever IHSAA State Championship Saturday at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis. Pictured are (l to r) Asst. Coach Cortney Lipniskis, Asst. Coach Terry Lipniskis, Asst. Coach Pat Ward, Head Coach Kevin Kinel, Jake Cross, Matt Rosiecki, Ethan Hall, Greg Franzen, Kyle Whitaker, Bill Bass, Tyler Fozkos, Sean Swibes, Adam Thieling and Albert Miller.                                    (Picture by Steve Handly)

More photos: State Champions: CHS swimmers take team title

By TR HARLAN

After 10 consecutive leaps into the pool at Sectional time and another 12 straight at the DAC Meet, Chesterton Boys Swim coach Kevin Kinel finally got to make the jump he most wanted.

“I’ve been waiting 28 years to go swimming in this pool,” Kinel said after a dip in the diving well at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis on Saturday. “This is just unbelievable. This is a feeling that every coach should get once in their career”

The Trojans tallied 271 points to edge Hamilton Southeastern (266) and bring home the school’s first-ever State Championship in Boys Swimming.

“The heart of these kids and the way they came through last night and again today is just incredible,” Kinel said. “We set ourselves up last night, but we knew it would be all day long and the lead would seesaw back and forth.”

The Trojans got off to an incredible start as the quartet of Adam Thieling, Albert Miller, Kyle Whitaker and Tyler Fozkos won the Medley Relay in 1:32.05 to break their own State Record set in Friday night’s prelims.

“Re-breaking the state record in the Medley Relay was a must,” Kinel said. “If we get touched out in that, the whole momentum of the day is changed. That was big.”

“This is an incredible feeling,” Miller said. “We’ve been talking about it all season. It’s everything we thought it would be and more.”

Chesterton’s Bill Bass followed that with a second place finish in the 200 Free (1:39.70), while Greg Franzen finished 13th (1:44.63).

Indianapolis North Central went 4-5-6 in the race to take over the team lead with 72 points, followed by Chesterton (61) and Hamilton Southeastern (59).

The Trojan retook the lead with a 1-3 finish in the 200 IM as sophomore Kyle Whitaker brought home the state title in 1:46.75. His time broke the State and National Public School record set by Jason Lancaster of Carmel in 1994 (1:46.90).

“It was tiring, I’ll give you that,” Whitaker said. “I gave it everything I had and it paid off. I had no idea, but I felt great in the water. In training all summer that was my goal.

“To see that when I finished, it was an overwhelming feeling”

“To get that as a sophomore, wow,” Kinel understated. “What a talent he is.”

The Trojans lead grew to 141-122 over HSE after freshman Tyler Fozkos finished fourth in the 50 Free, just before Whitaker won the 100 Fly and Thieling finished ninth.

“That event was so much faster than last year,” Whitaker said. “I wanted to get off to a strong start and when I do that, I can usually hold on.”

“Not only did (Adam) bump up in the backstroke and win the consolation’s in the fly, but his legs on both relays were just incredible,” Kinel said. “He really arrived as a state power here today. He was absolutely instrumental.”

A 2-5 finish for HSE in the 100 Free offset Franzen’s 10 place finish (47.60) as the Royals took a short-lived 153-148 overall lead.

“Some of the kids that came out of the consolation finals bumped up for us today,” Kinel said. “That may have been the difference. We’ve talked about that all year long.”

Bass won his individual state title in the 500 Free (4:32.64) with a great final 25 yards to push the Trojans back on top 168-153.

“I wanted to take it out and just dust everybody, but he stayed with me so I had to change things a little,” Bass said. “With about 400 to go I could tell he was going to stick around. I wasn’t going to blow him away, so I just saved something for the end.”

Bass turned right back around and joined teammates Fozkos, Thieling and Franzen to pick up the title in the 200 Free Relay (1:24.89) edging out HSE by .05 seconds.

“That was a nuts relay,” Bass said. “I didn’t know who won until I looked at the board. I had a good exchange, but my turn wasn’t real good. You just have to give it everything in the last 25.”

“That 200 Relay was probably the difference,” Kinel said. “If we don’t win that touch, everything changes. We start chasing them and they’ve got momentum.”

In the 100 Back, Thieling finished fifth overall in 51.80, while Miller won the consolation heat and finish ninth even though he swam a 51.66.

“Everyone stepped up and got us points when we needed them,” Miller said. “Kyle and Billy, you knew what they were going to do, but everyone swam so great today. We all did what we needed to do.

“You really can’t put it in words. It couldn’t have ended any better. I can’t think of any other way it could have ended.”

When Chesterton senior Sean Swibes finished 11th in the 100 Breaststroke (59.47) the Trojans had an almost insurmountable 237-226 lead over HSE.

“Everybody did such a great job today,” Whitaker said. “Our seniors are great guys and I’m so happy for them to get to end their careers with that. It’s nice just to be part of it.

This is a dream come true for us.”

In the final event, the 400 Free Relay, the Trojans needed to finish fourth to secure the State Title. HSE out-touched Chesterton 3:04.12-3:04.42 to win the race.

“The only time I got to relax at all was in the 400 Free Relay because we, for the most part, had it locked up,” Kinel said. “I’m going to enjoy watching the DVD of this thing, because I don’t remember any of it. You have to stay so many steps ahead of it that it’s hard to enjoy it while it’s going on.”

Kinel not only picked up his first State title, but also garnered IHSAA State Coach of the Year honors in the process.

“Nobody deserves that award more than Coach Kinel,” Miller said. “He’s a great coach and a great friend. He’s everything you could ever look for in a coach.”

Team Results

1. CHESTERTON 271, 2. HAMILTON SOUTHEASTERN 266, 3. INDPLS. NORTH CENTRAL 232, 4. CARMEL 188, 5. HOMESTEAD 154, 6. MUNSTER 149, 7. LAKE CENTRAL 84, 8. EAST CENTRAL 83, 9. ZIONSVILLE 71, 10. CROWN POINT 70, 11. NORTHRIDGE 66, 12. CONCORD 47, 13. WESTFIELD 40, 14. SEYMOUR 36, 15. PENN 35, 16. WHEELER 33, 17. (tie) BREBEUF JESUIT and BREMEN 28, 19. MICHIGAN CITY 24, 20. (tie) KOKOMO and MUNCIE CENTRAL 23, 22. CASTLE, PLAINFIELD 22, 24. McCUTCHEON 10, 25. (tie) LEBANON and FW NORTHROP 17, 27. (tie) INDIAN CREEK, WEST LAFAYETTE, FW CARROLL and CENTER GROVE 16, 31. (tie) TERRE HAUTE SOUTH, TERRE HAUTE NORTH and HERITAGE CHRISTIAN 15, 34. (tie) YORKTOWN and LAWRENCE NORTH 14, 36. (tie) MT. VERNON and AVON 12, 38. (tie) COLUMBUS EAST and FRANKLIN CENTRAL 10, 40. (tie) CRAWFORDSVILLE, WAWASEE and LAFAYETTE JEFFERSON 9, 44. (tie) BLOOMINGTON SOUTH and BEDFORD NORTH LAWRENCE 8, 46. (tie) FW SNYDER and NEW PRAIRIE 7, 48. (tie) VALPARAISO and RENSSELAER 6, 50. COLUMBUS NORTH 5, 51. HUNTINGTON NORTH 4, 52. TRI-WEST HENDRICKS 3, 53. (tie) SB RILEY, INDPLS. PIKE and SOUTH ADAMS 2.

Individual Results

200 MEDLEY RELAY -- 1. Chesterton (Adam Thieling, Albert Miller, Kyle Whitaker, Tyler Fozkos) 1:32.05 (STATE RECORD), 2. Hamilton Southeastern 1:32.86, 3. Munster 1:35.29, 4. North Central 1:35.44, 5. Carmel 1:35.71, 6. East Central 1:36.88, 7. Homestead 1:36.97, 8. Lake Central 1:37.42.

200 FREE -- 1. Ben Wachtel (Westfield) 1:39.25, 2. Bill Bass (Chesterton) 1:39.70, 3. Matthew Kruse (Hamilton Southeastern) 1:40.10, 4. Brand Siemasko (North Central) 1:41.62, 5. Ross Van Allen (North Central) 1:41.80, 6. Edward Minturn (North Central) 1:42.03, 7. Jon Hueni (Bremen) 1:42.15, 8. Matt Segar (Carmel) 1:42.49, 13. Gregory Franzen (Chesterton) 1:44.63.

200 I.M. -- 1. Kyle Whitaker (Chesterton) 1:46.75 (STATE RECORD), 2. Austin Mudd (Hamilton Southeastern) 1:51.23, 3. Albert Miller (Chesterton) 1:52.35, 4. Derek Paul (Hamilton Southeastern) 1:52.63, 5. Alex Burtch (Concord) 1:53.65, 6. Ryan Connolly (Zionsville) 1:55.18, 7. Tylor Gauger (Kokomo) 1:55.59, 8. Benjamin Souders (North Central) 1:56.14.

50 FREE -- 1. Victor Sikorski (Wheeler) 20.89, 2. Kyle House (East Central) 21.30, 3. Sean Fitzgerald (Brebeuf Jesuit) 21.35, 4. Tyler Fozkos (Chesterton) 21.38, 5. Chris Johnson (Lake Central) 21.46, 6. Nathan Kinney (Hamilton Southeastern) 21.61, 7. Kurt Greene (Mt. Vernon) 21.81, 8. Brendan Joyce (Carmel) 21.92.

DIVING -- 1. Jimmy Page (Crown Point) 510.20, 2. Rylan Ridenour (Lebanon) 481.80, 3. Casey Johnson (Indian Creek) 459.55, 4. Matt Vieke (Heritage Christian) 458.85, 5. Kyle Frebel (Homestead) 454.50, 6. Tyler Clingerman (Plainfield) 453.55, 7. Ross Dreher (Avon) 451.90, 8. Evan Crowder (Carmel) 432.65.

100 FLY -- 1. Kyle Whitaker (Chesterton) 48.44, 2. Kyle House (East Central) 49.34, 3. Kevin Behrens (Munster) 49.88, 4. Jon Hueni (Bremen) 50.19, 5. Zachary Johnson (Homestead) 50.20, 6. Cameron Owen (Hamilton Southeastern) 50.57, 7. Brendan Joyce (Carmel) 50.83, 8. Sam Newcomer (Zionsville) 51.49, 9. Adam Thieling (Chesterton) 51.00.

100 FREE -- 1. Ben Wachtel (Westfield) 45.82, 2. Matthew Kruse (Hamilton Southeastern) 46.22, 3. Alex Burtch (Concord) 46.28, 4. Andrew Elliot (Penn) 46.37, 5. Nathan Kinney (Hamilton Southeastern) 46.91, 6. Victor Sikorski (Wheeler) 47.22, 7. Sean Fitzgerald (Brebeuf Jesuit) 47.81, 8. Curtis Chaney (Ft. Wayne Northrop) 48.06, 10. Greg Franzen (Chesterton) 47.60.

500 FREE -- 1. Bill Bass (Chesterton) 4:32.64, 2. Brandon Siemasko (North Central) 4:33.39, 3. Raymond Mahon (West Lafayette) 4:36.38, 4. Matt Segar (Carmel) 4:36.69, 5. Ross Van Allen (North Central) 4:38.26, 6. Alec LA Mothe (North Central) 4:40.48, 7. Gilles Renard (McCutcheon) 4:41.39, 8. Tylor Gauger (Kokomo) 4:45.66.

200 FREE RELAY -- 1. Chesterton (Tyler Fozkos, Adam Thieling, Greg Franzen, Bill Bass) 1:24.89, 2. Hamilton Southeastern 1:24.94, 3. Homestead 1:26.19, 4. Munster 1:27.16, 5. Northridge 1:27.44, 6. North Central 1:27.66, 7. Carmel 1:27.90, 8. Crown Point 1:28.15.

100 BACK -- 1. Andrew Elliot (Penn) 48.99 (STATE RECORD), 2. Kevin Behrens (Munster) 50.65, 3. Camero Watkins (North Central) 51.45, 4. Austin Mudd (Hamilton Southeastern) 51.53, 5. Adam Thieling (Chesterton) 51.80, 6. Josh Jordan (Carmel) 52.21, 7. Edward Minturn (North Central) 52.53, 8. Zachary Johnson (Homestead) 52.73, 9. Albert Miller (Chesterton) 51.66.

100 BREAST -- 1. Chris Johnson (Lake Central) 56.56, 2. Derek Paul (Hamilton Southeastern) 56.60, 3. Andrew Kaminski (Munster) 57.47, 4. Cameron Miller (Michigan City) 57.53, 5. Marek Botik (Lawrence North) 58.77, 6. Ethan Radalia (Homestead) 58.80, 7. Kamer Chastain (Seymour) 59.07, 8. David Broughton (Terre Haute North) 1:00.05, 11. Sean Swibes (Chesterton) 59.47.

400 FREE RELAY -- 1. Hamilton Southeastern 3:04.12, 2. Chesterton (Kyle Whitaker, Albert Miller, Greg Franzen, Bill Bass) 3:04.42, 3. North Central 3:10.15, 4. Homestead 3:11.12, 5. Carmel 3:12.49, 6. Munster 3:13.54, 7. Zionsville 3:14.11, 8. Lake Central 3:14.14.

Posted 2/25/2008