Patriot boys swim to victory

The Parkway South Patriots boys swim team is off to a good start this season and coach Jeremy Nichols believes it is just the start of what’s to come.

The Patriots recently captured the two-day Marquette Relays. Parkway South finished with 238 points, topping Marquette’s 230. Lafayette was third at 222.

“It was a great meet overall,” Nichols said. “Eighteen points separated first and fourth place so, heading into the second day, I knew it could be any team’s turn to win. I’m humbled that we came out on top. I’m proud of the way the boys swam.

“This will be one of the highlights of our season and I hope it will be the beginning of many great things to come for our team.”

This was the first victory in the relays for Nichols, who had coached the Patriots since 2007. He believes it was their first championship in the event since 2001.

The victory in the relays makes a big statement about Parkway South swimming, Nichols said.

“Winning the relays has given us confidence and focus for the remainder of the year,” Nichols said.

No school records were broken by Parkway South in the meet; however, Nichols said junior Tim Regan did lower his state qualifying time in the 100 backstroke.

Parkway South won the 400 IM relay in 3 minutes, 50.50 seconds. The four members of this relay were: Regan in the backstroke, senior Josh Grass in the breaststroke, senior Bradley Gleason in the butterfly, and senior Conrad Polys in the freestyle.

“They swam a great race. Each of our guys earned his best time of the season in the event he swam,” Nichols said. “They had to fight off a strong Chaminade team to win the event and I’m pleased that they stayed focused and gave all they had to earn the victory.”

The Patriots also won the 300 breaststroke relay with a time of 3:20.84. Boys on the relay were junior Kelly Lovera, senior Brian Day and Grass.

The diving relay team of Skyler Waddell, Cooper Faddis and Brian Audiffred took second for the Patriots. The 200 free relay team of Regan, Kurt Weatherford, Daniel Grass and Polys finished third as did the 600 IM relay team of Tim Goodwin, Gleason and Polys, and the 300 butterfly relay team of Tim Goodwin, Gleason and Polys.

“To have six relays earn medals on the day was a great accomplishment for our team,” Nichols said.