By TR HARLAN

Now what?

The No. 2 Chesterton boys swim team is cruising through its season and just for good measure added its 12th consecutive Duneland Athletic Conference title on Saturday at CHS.

Ho-hum.

“We tried to motivate the kids with the chance to break some records,” Chesterton coach Kevin Kinel said. “The rest of the motivation is for the kids that aren’t seniors to keep this thing going.”

The Trojans dominated from the outset as they broke eight DAC Meet records and racked up 488 team points. Lake Central finished second with 347 points.

“We were a little tired and emotionally drained coming off of Munster on Thursday,” Kinel said. “I was glad it was here because we always swim well at home. It was hard to get up early.”

The Chesterton 200 Medley Relay started the record parade with a 1:35.32 by the quartet of Adam Thieling, Albert Miller, Kyle Whitaker and Tyler Fozkos.

Bill Bass and Greg Franzen backed that up with a 1-3 finish in the 200 Free, just ahead of Whitaker and Miller’s 1-2 finish in the 200 IM.

“We kind of caught fire in the front end of the meet and swam great,” Kinel said. “I’m really pleased. It was nice to see these seniors go out at home breaking a lot of records. They’ve really put in a lot of time and they’ve done a lot for Chesterton swimming.”

For Miller it was a full-second drop in time off his lifetime best swim.

“I swam pretty well,” Miller, the senior captain, said. “I had a lifetime best in the IM by a full second. When you’ve been swimming as long as I have, dropping time doesn’t happen every time out.

“Knowing this was my last meet, I just wanted to go out with a bang.”

The Trojans continued their run of titles with a victory by Fozkos in the 50 Free. Crown Point’s Jimmy Page, the Meet MVP, set a pool record in the diving to break Chesterton’s strangle-hold on first place ribbons.

Back to the pool, Fozkos won the 100 Free and Bass was victorious in the 500 Free.

“The second half of the meet, I thought it took us a while to get going,” Kinel said.

A win in the 200 Free Relay was followed by Miller’s victory in the 100 Back. Lake Central’s Chris Johnson won the 100 Breast to keep the Trojans from a clean sweep.

“Before the meet we talked about how just winning the meet wasn’t enough for this team,” Miller said. “We needed to look at the records and start trying to get those. It was a chance for us to leave a mark that may stand for a while.”

Chesterton put the final touches on the meet with Whitaker, Miler, Franzen and Bass winning the 400 Free Relay in 3:13.29.

“All of the kids that won and broke records, I could go on and on about,” Kinel said. “Tyler, as a freshman, really answered the call. Greg Franzen swam a 1:46 in the 200 and that’s a great time drop. Then he went 48.3, which is his best time, in the 100 Free. I can’t say enough about the way he’s swimming.

“Matt Rosiecki had a great meet. Both of his swims were lifetime bests. Adam Thieling had two best times. Nate Schuster had a four-second time drop. That doesn’t happen too often.”

The Trojans 12th straight victory puts them within one conference title of the Portage Wrestling program’s 13 consecutive wins.

“This is one step closer to the goal of 13,” Miller said. “It’s special to me with this being my senior year. Now it’s up to the younger guys to keep it going in the future.”

“I think the record is what it is,” Kinel said. “It’s nice and we’re certainly going to do everything we can to keep it going. We’ve always approached this as a big meet, but it’s not a meet that we try to do everything in.

“It’s a credit to all the years of work to have the depth to continue to win. It’s big and the kids are all aware of it.”

Team Results

1. Chesterton, 488; 2. Lake Central, 347; 3. Crown Point, 285; 4. Michigan City, 244; 5. Valparaiso, 229; 6. Portage, 213; 7. Merrillville, 154; 8. LaPorte, 143.

Individual Results

200 Medley Relay – 1. Chesterton (Adam Thieling, Albert Miller, Kyle Whitaker, Tyler Fozkos), 1:35.32 (MEET, POOL RECORD); 2. Lake Central, 1:38.29; 3. Michigan City, 1:41.40; 4. Crown Point, 1:43.33; 5. Valparaiso, 1:47.77.

200 Free – 1. Bill Bass (C), 1:42.99 (MEET RECORD); 2. Chris Schreier (P), 1:46.37; 3. Greg Franzen (C), 1:46.76; 4. Matt Schmidt (LC), 1:47.94; 5. Ethan Hall (C), 1:51.23.

200 IM – 1. Kyle Whitaker (C), 1:52.43 (MEET RECORD); 2. Albert Miller (C), 1:55.65; 3. Cameron Miller (MC), 2:00.92; 4. Matt Kukurugya (CP), 2:01.96; 5. Ryan Letts (L), 2:09.73; 10. Taylor Zakhar (C), 2:14.17.

50 Free – 1. Tyler Fozkos (C), 21.9; 2. Chris Johnson (LC), 22.25; 3. Brendan Morin (CP), 22.35; 4. Matt Rosiecki (C), 22.69; 5. Christopher Kermin (L), 22.83; 12. Josh Gerber (C), 24.06.

1-Meter Diving – 1. Jimmy Page (CP), 497.70 (POOL RECORD); 2. Brody Carter (V), 423.65; 3. Alec Back (P), 394.10; 4. James Raber (V), 373.35; 5. Chris Devenport (P), 367.50; 11. Chris Srakavic (C), 283.35; 14. Houston Wolfe (C), 262.15; 16. Roby Surber (C), 252.60.

100 Fly – 1. Kyle Whitaker (C), 50.73 (MEET RECORD); 2. Chris Schreier (P), 52.83; 3. Adam Thieling (C), 53.69; 4. Brendan Morin (CP), 53.83; 5. Ryan Letts (L), 56.39; 10. Jake Cross (C), 58.54.

100 Free – 1. Tyler Fozkos (C), 48.10; 2. Greg Franzen (C), 48.32; 3. Jon Solan (LC), 49.14; 4. Brad Stallings (CP), 49.44; 5. Christopher Kermin (L), 50.42; 11. Taylor Zakhar (C), 53.34.

500 Free – 1. Bill Bass (C), 4:46.15; 2. Matt Schmidt (LC), 4:53.50; 3. Sean Swibes (C), 4:59.80; 4. Ethan Hall (C), 5:01.37; 5. Blake Yeager (CP), 5:01.71.

200 Free Relay – 1. Chesterton (Tyler Fozkos, Adam Thieling, Greg Franzen, Bill Bass), 1:27.73 (MEET RECORD); 2. Crown Point, 1:29.57; 3. Lake Central, 1:34.01; 4. Portage, 1:34.61; 5. Valparaiso, 1:35.88.

100 Back – 1. Albert Miller (C), 53.34; 2. Adam Thieling (C), 54.35; 3. Jon Solan (LC), 54.55; 4. Nick Pabon (MC), 59.15; 5. Evan Dominguez (P), 1:00.05; 10. Nate Schuster (C), 1:00.90.

100 Breast – 1. Chris Johnson (LC), 57.33 (MEET RECORD); 2. Cameron Miller (MC), 58.04; 3. Sean Swibes (C), 1:00.31; 4. Matt Rosiecki (C), 1:00.94; 5. Matt Kukurugya (CP), 1:01.77; 7. Jake Cross (C), 1:05.31.

400 Free Relay – 1. Chesterton (Kyle Whitaker, Albert Miller, Greg Franzen, Bill Bass), 3:13.29 (MEET, POOL RECORD); 2. Lake Central, 3:22.02; 3. Portage, 3:27.89; 4. Crown Point, 3:29.06; 5. Michigan City, 3:30.98.

Posted 1/28/2008