The Chesterton boys swim team captured Sectional title number 11 and set themselves up a chance to defend its State Championship next weekend in Indianapolis.

The Trojans posted 373.5 points to better second place Valparaiso (253). LaPorte (155) finished third, followed by Michigan City (144) and Portage (124) in the top five.

“This weekend’s meet was bitter sweet,” Chesterton coach Kevin Kinel said. “We had some great time drops from some younger kids, but I thought we’d be faster.

“We’ll be well represented (at State), but it’ll be tough.”

The Trojans had three double winners in senior Bill Bass, junior Kyle Whitaker and sophomore Tyler Fozkos. Both Bass’ and Whitaker’s wins came in Sectional record time.

“Billy in his two events broke sectional records and Kyle broke sectional records twice,” Kinel said. “So they are both faster at this point than they were last year.”

Bass took top honors in the 200 Free (1:41.74) and the 500 Free (4:43.11), while Whitaker won the 200 IM (1:50.85) and the 100 Fly (49.95).

“All year I thought this would be a whole lot of parity between a whole lot of teams,” Kinel said. “For us, our studs are going to have to come through and our other kids have to have the meet of their life.”

Chesterton sophomore Tyler Fozkos took top honors in the 50 Free (21.23) and the 100 Free (47.47).

“Winning by a large margin, it’s hard to get some real motivation,” Kinel said. “Tyler got out in both of his swims with solid times for being unshaved.”

The other Trojan who will make the trek to Indianapolis in an individual event is junior Matt Rosiecki. Rosiecki finished second in the 100 Breast (59.90), but beat the State cut.

“Matt in the 100 breast had a great swim to get to State,” Kinel said.

Chesterton also got all three relays out to the State Finals.

“We got all three relays out,” Kinel said. “We won’t have great seed and there’ll be five or six teams going for the State title. We’ll control what we can.”

The 200 Medley Relay won in 1:34.51 (Whitaker, Rosiecki, Bass and Fozkos), while the 200 Free won in 1:27.70 (Rosiecki, Ethan Hall, Taylor Zakhar and Fozkos).

In the 400 Free Relay, the Trojans won in 3:12.50 (Whitaker, Hall, Zakhar and Bass).

“The Sectionals around the State were really fast,” Kinel said.

The Trojans got a taste of the State Finals format when the Sectional prelims were moved to Friday evening with the Finals starting at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

“Friday night we had some really great swims,” Kinel said. “Taylor Zakhar dropped time. Nick Brahos had terrific swims in the IM and the Breaststroke. Drake Belt was great in the Fly and Backstroke.

“Mike Diaz cut a bunch of time in the Fly. Nate Schuster had best times in the 100 and 500 Free.”

1. Chesterton, 373.5; 2. Valparaiso, 253; 3. LaPorte, 155; 4. Michigan City, 144; 5. Portage, 124; 6. Merrillville, 89; 7. Hobart, 73; 8. Wheeler, 66; 9. Andrean, 50; 10. Knox, 31.5; 11. Gary West Side, 18.

200 Medley Relay lb. 1. Chesterton (Kyle Whitaker, Matt Rosiecki, Bill Bass, Tyler Fozkos), 1:34.51; 2. Michigan City, 1:41.84; 3. Valparaiso, 1:42.83; 4. Portage, 1:45.73; 5. Merrillville, 1:46.09; 6. Hobart, 1:46.16.

200 Free lb. 1. Bill Bass (C), 1:41.74 (SECTIONAL RECORD); 2. Ethan Hall (C), 1:49.45; 3. Aaron Redfield (A), 1:49.79; 4. Taylor Zakhar (C), 1:50.45; 5. Ryan Byers (MC), 1:52.20; 6. Christopher Klimczak (L), 1:52.44.

200 IM lb. 1. Kyle Whitaker (C), 1:50.85 (SECTIONAL RECORD); 2. Cameron Miller (MC), 1:55.77; 3. Dion Low (V), 1:59.13; 4. Nathan Quinlan (MC), 2:05.70; 5. Nick Brahos (C), 2:097.84; 6. Nick Borzych (C), 2:11.84.

50 Free lb. 1. Tyler Fozkos (C), 21.23; 2. Matt Rosiecki (C), 22.25; 3. Jacob Pavel (M), 22.37; 4. Ryan Letts (L), 22.45; 5. Tyler Waldrop (H), 22.74; 6. John Bednar (V), 23.09.

1-Meter Diving lb. 1. Anthony Trinoski (V), 408.90; 2. Joshua Batten (L), 391.05; 3. James Raber (V), 390.80; 4. Derek Smith (L), 380.05; 5. Houston Wolfe (C), 368.85; 6. Matt Miller (C), 350.15.

100 Fly lb. 1. Kyle Whitaker (C), 49.95 (SECTIONAL RECORD); 2. Chris Schreier (P), 51.71; 3. Josh Davis (A), 53.95; 4. Drake Belt (C), 56.18; 5. Christopher Klimczak (L), 56.47; 6. Connor Sunday (V), 56.94.

100 Free lb. 1. Tyler Fozkos (C), 47.47; 2. Jacob Pavel (M), 48.68; 3. Ethan Hall (C), 49.02; 4. Taylor Zakhar (C), 49.81; 5. Ryan Letts (L), 50.00; 6. John Bednar (V), 51.64.

500 Free lb. 1. Bill Bass (C), 4:43.11 (SECTIONAL RECORD); 2. Aaron Redfield (A), 4:59.04; 3. Nathan Schuster (C), 5:05.41; 4. Kenny Longfellow (P), 5:18.35; 5. Matthew Cain (V), 5:20.08; 6. William Johnson (V), 5:22.32.

200 Free Relay lb. 1. Chesterton (Matt Rosiecki, Ethan Hall, Taylor Zakhar, Tyler Fozkos), 1:27.70; 2. Valparaiso, 1:32.70; 3. LaPorte, 1:33.71; 4. Hobart, 1:34.00; 5. Wheeler, 1:35.48; 6. Portage, 1:35.64.

100 Back lb. 1. Chris Schreier (P), 53.60; 2. Josh Davis (A), 56.28; 3. Ryan Byers (MC), 58.10; 4. Alexander Porucznik (V), 58.21; 5. Matthew Cain (V), 58.22; 6. Connor Sunday (V), 58.34.

100 Breast lb. 1. Cameron Miller (MC), 57.53; 2. Matt Rosiecki (C), 59.90; 3. Dion Low (V), 1:00.69; 4. Nathan Quinlan (MC), 1:02.84; 5. Kristopher Pullins (V), 1:03.51; 6. Nick Brahos (C), 1:04.10.

400 Free Relay lb. 1. Chesterton (Kyle Whitaker, Ethan Hall, Taylor Zakhar, Bill Bass), 3:12.50; 2. Michigan City, 3:25.56; 3. Portage, 3:27.35; 4. LaPorte, 3:27.72; 5. Valparaiso, 3:33.30; 6. Merrillville, 3:33.34.

Posted 2/23/2009