CROWN POINT | As the favorite to win the Crown Point Sectional on Saturday, Munster set itself up in excellent position to fulfill that likely prediction on Thursday.
The Seahorses started the preliminaries out with a No. 1 seed in the 200-yard medley relay (1:39.26), setting themselves up for a strong meet overall.
Munster’s Joey Gardner earned No. 1 seeds in the 200 individual medley (2:01.15) and the 100 breast (1:01.19).
More importantly, however, was the Seahorses utilizing their immense depth, placing multiple swimmers in every individual event for Saturday’s finals in their quest for a 28th consecutive sectional championship.
“We’ve got a young team, so you’re kind of nervous going in about how they’re going to respond,” Munster coach Matt Pavlovich said. “I’m really pleased with today.
"Looking at it, we came in hoping for the best. It was just a good team effort today all the way around. I don’t want to really single out one person.”
Thursday was a new experience for Crown Point, and coach Doug Norris knows it’s a huge step for the team, which got a No. 1 seed from Joey Kaczynski in the 200 free (1:49.65) early in the meet.
“We have not had a sectional where every kid in every event gets to come back for Saturday,” he said. “It’s always been two or three we missed out on. The girls did it and we did it. We had really exceptional swims all the way down the line today.”
Without depth in most events, Highland is concentrating on performing well at state in its strongest events.
Sprinter Stephen Castillo earned No. 1 seeds in the 50 free (21.31) and 100 free (47.34) as well as helping the 200 free relay (1:30.73) and 400 free relay (3:21.57).
Teammate Chris Dabrowski earned a No. 1 seed in the 500 free (4:54.99).
“I just figured I’d go in here and make it to finals, get the No. 1 spot and see what I can do,” said Castillo, who has swam a state-best 20.63 in the 50 free this season. “I’m more focused on state. I’m glad we got in the finals 4-for-4.
“We’re taking every precaution to peak at state.”
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