Boys swimming preview

And they’re off. It promises to be another year of individual state champions and a team or two pushing for the state team title.

Lafayette finished second last fall at state and veteran coach Todd Gobel has several swimmers back for the Lancers, who were unbeaten in 13 dual matches in 2011.

Marquette may be poised to end Lafayette’s dominance as coach Joe Schoel has eight swimmers returning.

Parkway Central has a new/old coach in veteran Kevin Fober, who had the helm at De Smet for many years before retiring as the school’s athletic director. Fober has a defending state champion in senior Nick Orf in the 200 IM.

Parkway South coach Jeremy Nichols lost 12 swimmers to graduation but he has several seniors returning to keep his squad afloat.

MICDS coach Kristen Kaiser has some talent back from last year’s squad that wound up 11th at state. The Rams may be poised to swim into the top 10 this fall.

The dean of area coaches is Kevin Brennan, who enters his 36th year at Chaminade and  has a veteran club to lead.

Eureka coach Sharon Wasson is excited about what she says is the best Wildcat squad she has had in her 18 years with the school.

Here’s a look at the schools in alphabetical order, with insight from the coaches.

CHAMINADE RED DEVILS

2011 record: finished 15th at state meet

Coach: Kevin Brennan. Entering 36th year at Chaminade.

Returning: 20 lettermen

Swimmers to watch: junior Will O’Shea in the 100 back; junior Trae Schuller in the 200 IM/100 fly

Goals: Win conference

Teams in Metro Catholic Conference: CBC, Chaminade, De Smet, SLUH, Vianney

Favorites to win the conference: SLUH

 

DE SMET SPARTANS

2011 record: 5-5

Coach: Doug Maitz. Entering fifth year as coach at De Smet.

Returning: 10 varsity lettermen

Swimmers to watch: senior Kevin Christoff in diving; junior Zach Holtgrewe in breaststroke/butterfly/IM; senior Zach Woods in sprints; senior Michael Hillmer in back/breast/IM

Newcomers expected to contribute: 12 freshmen. We expect a lot of development over the next year.

Goals: Medal at the state diving competition, qualify individuals and a relay for state.

Teams in Metro Catholic Conference: CBC, Chaminade, De Smet, SLUH, Vianney

Favorites to win the conference: SLUH and Chaminade

Quote: “We have a lot of positive energy on this year’s squad,” Maitz said. “We have 10 seniors, captained by Colin Oca, Zach Woods, and Conor Joplin, who have provided outstanding leadership and support for an eager class of 12 freshmen.”

 

EUREKA WILDCATS

2011 record: 12-4

Coach: Sharon Wasson. Entering 18th year with a record of 290-70 at Eureka.

Swimmers to watch: senior Stephen Tresslar in the 100 back; senior captain Nick Seidel in the 100 free; seniors Scott Kelly and Christian Horn in the 100 breast; captain Luke Seiler in 100 fly; freshmen Justin King, Brendan Harris and Stephen Sugarbaker in the 200 free; Jimmy Barnes in diving

Teams in Suburban West Conference: Eureka, Fox, Lafayette, Lindbergh, Marquette, Northwest, Oakville, Mehlville, Parkway South

Favorites to win the Suburban West Conference: Lafayette, Parkway South, Eureka

Quote: “I am the most excited about this season than any since I have been at Eureka,” Wasson said. “We are bigger, stronger and faster than we have ever been.”

 

KENNEDY CELTS

Coach: Ann Hawkey. Entering sixth season coaching at Kennedy.

Returning: 5 lettermen

Swimmers to watch: seniors Michael Klein in freestyle and Joseph Rogers in backstroke

Newcomers expected to contribute: freshmen James Tabor and Andrew Heying

Goals: Win races/meets against teams that we have not had the opportunity to compete with in the past seasons. Improve throughout the season with a young team to build for the years to come.

Teams in AAA Conference: Christian High School, DuBourg (first year team), Kennedy, Trinity

Favorites to win the conference: This is our first year having more than two teams in the conference so it will be a prime opportunity to see our conference compete and grow. We hope to begin a conference tournament this year for the boys.

Quote: “I am excited to have 11 new swimmers to our program this year and all five swimmers who did not graduate returning,” Hawkey said. “I look forward to coaching them to become strong, competitive student athletes that display good sportsmanship at all times. I am also looking forward to the addition of two new male swim teams within our conference.”

 

LAFAYETTE LANCERS

2011 record: 13-0, finished second at state

Coach: Todd Gabel. Entering ninth year  with a record of 107-10 at Lafayette.

Swimmers to watch: senior Jon Glaser in 200 and 500 free; senior Jeremy Bruder in  50 free and 100 breast; senior Connor Parsons in 50 free and 100 fly; junior Jacob Alspaw in 200 and 500 free; senior Jared Rahe in 200 IM and 100 fly

Newcomers expected to contribute: freshman Calvin Gilbride in 100 breast and 200 IM; freshman John Wilmsen in 100 back and 100 fly; freshman Jack Trube in 100 breast

Goals: Win conference, be a top five team at state and set two to three individual school records.

Teams in Suburban West Conference: Eureka, Fox, Lafayette, Lindbergh, Marquette, Northwest, Oakville, Mehlville, Parkway South

Favorites to win the Suburban West Conference: Marquette

Quote: “The boys are training well and it will be exciting to see them compete this year,” Gabel said.

 

MARQUETTE MUSTANGS

2011 record: 7-4, finished third in conference and 16th at state

Coach: Joe Schoedel. Entering second year at Marquette.

Returning: 8 lettermen

Swimmers to watch: senior Kevin Poskin in 100 fly (fourth at state last year) and 200 IM (third at state last year); senior Nick Davis who didn’t swim last year, but was third in the 500 and 16th in the 200 at state two years ago; senior Evan Catani in the 100 back and 500 free; sophomore Sam Marlow in the 100 back and 500 free

Newcomers expected to contribute: freshman Jake Jesielowski in the 100 fly

Goals: We are a more solid team at the top this year, so winning conference is a very realistic goal. There are several school records that could fall this year as well – the 200 and 500 freestyle and the 100 butterfly. With the depth of our team, our goal is to finish in the top 10 at state, something we haven’t done since the 2003, as well as have a couple of state titles in individual events.

Teams in Suburban West Conference: Eureka, Fox, Lafayette, Lindbergh, Marquette, Northwest, Oakville, Mehlville, Parkway South

Favorites to win the Suburban West Conference: Marquette, Lafayette

Quote: “While we only have 12 returning athletes from last season, we have 21 new to the team,” Schoedel said. “This is very exciting for the future of our program, as they have an opportunity to work with some of the fastest swimmers Marquette has seen. We also have a solid diving core which will certainly add to our depth, giving us a good shot at conference. Our top swimmers should help propel us to the highest finish Marquette has seen in 10 years.”

 

MICDS RAMS

2011 record: 11-2 in dual meets, 11th at state

Coach: Kristen Kaiser. Entering seventh year at MICDS.  Have finished in the top 12 under Kaiser.

Returning: all the point scorers from state

Swimmers to watch: senior Lunsford Schock in 50 and 100 free; junior Jack Finlay in 200 IM and 100 back; senior Charles Cella in 200 free and 100 free; senior Ellis Brown in 100 free

Newcomers expected to contribute: Benjamin Edwards and Toby Young

Goals: Finish in the top 10 at state, swim well in duals but that isn’t the focus of our season.

Quote: “This team really surprised me last year, and it looks to be an even better season this year,” Kaiser said. “They are maturing, both in and out of the water, and that always makes for a great team atmosphere.”

 

PARKWAY CENTRAL COLTS

2011 record: 14-3, Suburban South Conference champions, third place at state

Coach: Kevin Fober. Entering his first year at Parkway Central. Previously coached for 13 years at De Smet with overall record of 104-61, four Metro Catholic Conference championships, one state championship (2002) and and one second place at state finish (2001). Prior to De Smet coached for 10 years at the University of Chicago. Assistant coach is Jeff Spector who has 23 years at Parkway Central.

Returning: 10 lettermen

Swimmers to watch: senior Nick Orf, defending state champion in 200 IM and state runnerup in 100 fly; senior Brandon Weissman, state finalist in 200 IM and 100 back; junior Riley Brown, state finalist in 200 free and 100 back

Newcomer expected to contribute: junior Zach Rogers, a transfer from Francis Howell Central who was a state finalist in 100 and 200 free

Teams in Suburban South Conference: Affton, Clayton, Kirkwood, Ladue, Parkway Central, Parkway North, Parkway West, Seckman, Summit, University City, Webster Groves

Goal: To challenge each member of the team to make the small steps every day to accomplish individual improvement.

Quote: “We will need to come together as a team in order to finish as high as capable in the Suburban South Conference meet and state meet,” Fober said. “The coaching staff is pleased with the progress made to this point. Realistically, we should be the favorite in the conference meet and one of the top three or four teams in the state championship.”

 

PARKWAY NORTH VIKINGS

2011 record: 7-5, finished sixth at the conference swim meet

Coach: Bart Prosser. Entering 14th year with a record of 124-45 at Parkway North.

Returning: 15 lettermen

Swimmers to watch: sophomore Jared Dachroeden in 100 back/500 free/200 medley/relays; junior Josh Lay in 100 breast/200 free/500 free/relays; senior Rogelio Bonilla in 200 medley/100 breast/relays; senior John Pai in 100 breast/relays; senior Thomas Beilsmith  in 100 free/ 50 free/relays; senior Noah Rosen in 100 fly/relays; sophomore Erick Muschinske in diving

Newcomer expected to contribute: freshman Joshua Zimmerman in 100 breast/200 free/relays

Goals: I think that our goal every year is to have a season in which we are over .500 and compete at our best in both the conference and state meet.

Teams in Suburban South Conference: Affton, Clayton, Kirkwood, Ladue, Parkway Central, Parkway North, Parkway West, Seckman, Summit, University City, Webster Groves

Favorites to win the Suburban South Conference: Parkway Central has a pretty solid team top to bottom. Summit had a pretty good team from last year, they are wanting to build on their success.

Quote: “I am excited about this team for many reasons, from top to bottom they are just a good group of hardworking, good spirited young men who want to represent themselves, their school and their community to the best of their ability,” Prosser said. “I think that with continued hard work we may surprise not only ourselves but a few teams in our league.”

 

PARKWAY SOUTH PATRIOTS

2011 record: 8-2 in dual meets, finished second in conference and 26th at state

Coach: Jeremy Nichols. Entering sixth year with a record of 45-11 at Parkway South. Finished fourth at state in 2009 and fifth in 2010.

Returning: 17 lettermen

Swimmers to watch: Tim Regan in the 200 and 500 free; Josh Grass in the 200 IM and 100 breast; Conrad Polys in the 100 free and 100 fly; Cooper Faddis and Skyler Waddell in diving; Tim Goodwin in the 100 fly

Newcomers expected to contribute: Kurt Weatherford in the 100 back and 200 free; Peter Crocker in the 50 free and 100 free

Goals: To improve on our finish from last season. We’d like to get all three relays qualified for state and have one swim in finals on Saturday. We’d also like to continue our streak of four consecutive second-place finishes at the conference championship meet.

Teams in Suburban West Conference: Eureka, Fox, Lafayette, Lindbergh, Marquette, Northwest, Oakville, Mehlville, Parkway South

Favorites to win the Suburban West Conference: Lafayette

Quote: We graduated 12 seniors last year, so it would be easy to say we’re rebuilding this year,” Nichols said. “However, we have nine returning seniors, including three state qualifiers. The size of our squad is down compared to recent seasons, but our expectations remain high. I’m looking forward to watching the boys have another great year.”

 

PARKWAY WEST LONGHORNS

2011 record: 9-3 duals, second at conference meet, eighth at state

Coach: Allison Zeller. Entering third season at Parkway West with an overall record of 16-9-1 in dual meets.

Returning: 16 lettermen

Swimmers to watch: senior co-captains Sam Luethy and Wesley Greene in the 100 back; juniors Grant Keesling and Ryan Schlueter in the 100 breast; junior Tommy Christensen 500 and 200 free

Newcomers expected to contribute: freshmen Drew Bonnett, Luke Christensen and Joe Ross are all looking good in the water and will add depth to the team.

Goals: Win conference and have more boys individually qualify for state.

Teams in Suburban South Conference: Affton, Clayton, Kirkwood, Ladue, Parkway Central, Parkway North, Parkway West, Seckman, Summit, University City, Webster Groves

Favorites to win the Suburban South Conference: Parkway Central and Kirkwood should be tough.

Quote: “We are a young team with more depth than we have had in years past,” Zeller said. “The boys are dedicated and know that they will have to work hard throughout the season in order to bring home a conference championship.”

 

WESTMINSTER CHRISTIAN

ACADEMY WILDCATS

Coach: Kent Kehr

Swimmers to watch: senior Easton Noble in the 100 breaststroke and 50 free; senior Jake Kehr in the 200 and 500 freestyle; junior Brandt Wieber in the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke; seniors Brian Fellows and Eddie Sutphen in the 100 and 50 free

Quote: “Westminster is bringing back a number of swimmers and we should be above 500 in the