Trevs win Relays in dominating fashion

• Reprints

Winnetka Saturday 1/14/11New Trier's Max Grodecki looks at the clock following the 50 Free Style at the Trevian Relays. | Jerry Daliege~for Sun-Times Media

Updated: February 20, 2012 8:13AM

What the New Trier boys swimming team accomplished Saturday was impressive even by the Trevians’ lofty standards.

The reigning state champions sailed to victory at the 57th annual Trevian Relays in Winnetka, scoring 182 points to win the toughest regular season meet in the state by 57.5 points over Naperville North. St. Charles North was third with 110 points.

Those three teams could all win trophies at next month’s state meet, but it is clear New Trier, which smashed six meet records, is in a class by itself.

“Personally this is one of my favorite meets of the year just because it’s at home and it’s a championship meet format,” New Trier senior Nick Killeen said. “We’re very comfortable here because some people aren’t afraid to get up and race.

“We’re very happy. I think even some of us didn’t know we’d be going that fast and breaking that many records. But we’ve been putting in a lot of hard work the past couple weeks so it’s really nice to come here and see it finally pay off.”

The final race did the most to showcase New Trier’s dominance. The quartet of Sam Skinner, Killeen, Jack Mangan and Max Grodecki captured the 400-yard freestyle relay in a meet-record 3:07.70, the 25th best clocking in IHSA history and an unheard-of time for this point in the season.

New Trier’s time swamped the old mark of 3:11.16, set by Lake Forest in 2003. Matt Grevers, an Olympic silver medalist in 2008, was the anchor on that relay. Naperville North’s quartet of Kevin Butz, Tom Hubbard, Andrew Eiken and Nick Bessler tied the old record.

“We don’t really make (breaking records) our focus, but it’s nice to do that,” Grodecki said. “That’s a really good time. I guess (the reason) is just that we take off our drag suits and go green. It’s just a huge morale booster and it helps a lot mentally.”

Grevers’ name was wiped from the record books thanks to Mangan, who erased his meet record of 51.31 in the 100 backstroke, lowering it to 51.07.

“It’s pretty cool,” said Mangan, a junior who was third in the backstroke at last year’s state meet. “I was so surprised. Going into the meet my goal was to break it, but I didn’t know if I had it in me to do it, and I did it.”

Mangan teamed with Grant Smith, Reed Malone and Nels Snyder to set a meet record in the 200 medley relay (1:36.4) and he was third in the 100 freestyle, which was won by reigning state champ Grodecki in 46.49.

Grodecki also won the 50 free in 20.89, missing the meet record by .08, and anchored Skinner, Snyder and Killeen to victory in the 200 free relay, where their time of 1:25.12 shattered the meet record by over two seconds. New Trier also established a new mark in the 200 JV medley relay and ended up winning all but one event.

Skinner (1:42.78) and Killeen finished 1-2 in the 200 free, while Malone and Smith took first and third, respectively, in the 200 individual medley and sophomore Jae Park won the 100 breaststroke in 1:00.59, with Smith taking third. In one of the most exciting races of the day, Killeen captured the 500 free in 4:37.71, .01 ahead of Malone and .81 ahead of two-time defending state champion Danny Thomson of Hinsdale Central.

The only event New Trier didn’t win was the 100 butterfly, where Loyola junior Andrew Jovanovic, the reigning state champion, set a meet record of 51.31.

“Going into this meet we were all really pumped because it’s our favorite meet and it’s at home,” Mangan said. “After what we did today we’re all really happy and we’re excited for the rest of the season.”