Hutchinson excels at swimming state finals

Fenwick sophomore Liam Hutchinson earned the first two state medals of his career Saturday at the state finals at New Trier. He finished ninth in the 200 freestyle (1:41.16) and eighth in the 500 free in a personal-best 4:31.55. (Photo by Don Bartecki)

Fenwick sophomore earned Fenwick sophomore Liam Hutchinson earned the first two state medals of his career Saturday at the state finals at New Trier. He finished ninth in the 200 freestyle (1:41.16) and eighth in the 500 free in a personal-best 4:31.55. (Photo by Don Bartecki)

Fenwick jumior Tommy Bartecki competed in the 100-yard backstroke (53.61 seconds in prelims) at the state meet hosted by New Trier High School Saturday, Feb. 25 (Photo by Don Bartecki)

Fenwick sophomore Dan Lynch swam the 100-yard breaststroke prelims in a time of 59.53 at the state meet hosted by New Trier High School Saturday, Feb. 25 (Photo by Don Bartecki)

Fenwick senior Conor Hendzel provided both leadership and talent in the pool this season for the Friars. (Photo by Don Bartecki)

Fenwick senior Conor Hendzel swims freestyle during the Friars’ Senior Night. (Photo by Don Bartecki)

Fenwick senior Matt Hoban swam both relay and individual events for the Friars this season. (Photo by Don Bartecki)

Fenwick swimmer Dan Lynch competes for the Friars during Senior Night. (Photo by Don Bartecki)

With a large senior class graduating, Fenwick boys swimming coach Luke McGuire will be looking for a good team leader.

The odds are pretty good it will be Liam Hutchinson.

Living up to high expectations, the sophomore earned the first two state medals of his career Saturday at the state finals hosted by New Trier.

Hutchinson made the consolation heats of the 200-yard freestyle and 500 freestyle. He finished ninth in the 200 in 1:41.16 and eighth in the 500 in a personal-best 4:31.55.

“I was just really excited because all I wanted to do coming into state was make finals,” Hutchinson said. “After my races yesterday, I’m just so happy to be here.”

Hutchinson qualified for state as a freshman but did not advance to finals, so his performance in Friday’s preliminary round was a key breakthrough. He ranked ninth in the 200 and 11^th in the 500 after prelims, dropping six seconds off his seed time in the later while setting a personal-best of 1:40.21 in the 200.

“Last year I got to state, which was great, so this year my mentality was more I want to medal and get to finals,” Hutchinson said. “Now that I’ve done that, everything has gone to plan, so it’s all good.

“For me (the key) is just all about going to practice every day and putting in the hard work. If you’ve done all that, you know at the end of the season you’re going to get those times that you want.”

McGuire was pleased to see Hutchinson succeed.

“I would say he met (the expectations),” McGuire said. “We had a good sense that he would be here on Saturday. I think he wanted to swim a little faster, but we’re plenty happy with what he’s done.”

This year’s success was a long time coming for Hutchinson, who began swimming when he was 5. He takes the sport seriously and relishes his time with the Friars.

“It’s really cool,” Hutchinson said. “Coming in as a freshman, I could tell that the group of boys was really tight knit.

“We stand up for each other and we’re good friends. Swimming for Fenwick is kind of all about friendship and just doing your best.”

The Friars did so even though Hutchinson was their only medalist this year.

“The relays did a little bit better than we did at sectionals,” Hutchinson said. “We got best times but maybe not as fast as we wanted to go.”

Fenwick missed making the finals in the 200 medley relay by .68 seconds as the quartet of Tommy Bartecki, Dan Lynch, Kevin Finn and Conor Hendzel finished 16^th in 1:37.79.

The 400 free relay of Hutchinson, Matt Hoban, Bartecki and Kyle Poland took 15^th in 3:12.08, 1.17 seconds shy of the cut, and the 200 free squad of Dan Lynch, Poland, Bartecki and Hutchinson timed 1:26.74 to place 19^th.

In the individual events, Lynch took 28^th in the 100 breaststroke in 59.53 and Bartecki was 35^th in the 100 backstroke in 53.61.

“Everybody swam well,” McGuire said. “For the most part everyone either held time or dropped time.

“We only had a couple of swims that were slower. With the exception of Liam, everyone tapered for last week, so being able to hold the taper to this week is good.”

Friars top OPRF, St. Patrick for sectional title

Leading up the state meet, Fenwick won its own sectional by edging rival Oak Park and River Forest 290-275.

The Friars’ 200-yard medley relay team of Bartecki, Lynch, senior Kevin Finn and Hendzel won its event with a time of 1 minute, 35.67 seconds. In the 200-yard freestyle relay, Lynch, Poland, Bartecki and Hutchinson finished second (1:26.97). In the last race of the day, Hutchinson, Hoban, Bartecki and Poland also placed second with a time of 3:12.15.

“We had some great swims,” McGuire said. “I was especially pleased that we qualified all three relays for Friday.

“We had a few near misses- Poland in the 200 free and Lulich in the 100 back- otherwise everything went as expected.”

The promising Hutchinson swam well in the individual events with a second-place showing in the 500-yard freestyle (4:40.21) and third-place result in the 200 free (1:43.04).

Lynch qualified for state by winning the 100-yard breaststroke at 59. 25. Bartecki was runner-up in the 100-yard backstroke (52.71) advancing to state as well.

Editor’s Note: In the print version and initial online version of this story, several errors were made in terms of names and swimming times. Wednesday Journal regrets those errors and has updated the online version for accuracy.