Aidan Farley knew swimming would be his sport after he witnessed a special event in fourth grade.
“It was the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Michael Phelps was in his prime,” Farley said. “Watching him was really inspiring. Him winning all the gold, seeing him bring home all those wins for the USA.
“As a little kid, I thought, ‘That’s so cool. I would love to do that.’ That’s what really got me into swimming.”
That became a good thing for Sandburg.
The Eagles’ junior distance standout won the 200-yard freestyle (1:41.10) and 500 freestyle (4:33.59) in pool records and swam on two winning relays Saturday to lead Sandburg to the team championship of its 15-team sectional.
Sandburg outscored runner-up Stagg 305.5-250.5 and advanced eight individuals and all three relays to the state meet Friday and Saturday at Evanston.
“There couldn’t have been a better meet than this one,” Farley said. “Me and the whole team, we’ve all been looking forward to this day for a while. For the meet to go this way, it was perfect.”
Sandburg coach Jim Caliendo didn’t search for words to describe Farley.
“He’s got great talent, great feel for the water,” Caliendo said. “When you watch him swim, he just glides on top of the water. It looks effortless. He’s very gifted.
“On top of that, he’s a coach’s dream. He listens. He does what you want him to do. He uses his coaches as resources and applies what we say to what he does.”
After Farley won the 500 free, the large group of Sandburg students in the bleachers, including members of the state champion cross country team, chanted “Aidan, Aidan, Aidan.”
“Even from the start of the meet, the medley relay, everyone was extremely excited for the whole meet,” Farley said. “Getting my adrenalin up like that, it really helps. Then the crowd, everything. This meet was perfect.”
Diver Matas Skultinas (412.75), Jake Gobeille in the 100 freestyle (47.86) and Kevin Stratton in the 100 backstroke (51.88) also earned sectional titles for Sandburg.
“Our divers (Skultinas and Leo Espino) going 1-2, the kids walked in the door with a nice lead point wise,” Caliendo said. “The first three events got us going, and we just rolled that way all day long.”
The medley relay (1:34.90) was Stratton, Josh Lang, Gobeille and anchor Marty Blake. Gobeille, Blake, Cobie Fritsch and Farley made up the 200 free relay (1:26.62) with Farley, Blake, Gobeille and Stratton in the 400 relay (3:12.15).
Stratton also qualified in the 200 IM (1:55.49) behind Stagg champion Lucas Smiarowski (1:54.28).
Brother Rice totaled six state qualifiers, including sectional champs Solomon Geinosky in the butterfly (51.93) and James Ryan in the breaststroke (58.58).
Five individuals beat the 1:00.30 standard and qualified for the state meet in the breaststroke: Ryan, Stagg’s Gabe Jezierski (58.80), Smiarowski (58.91), Brother Rice’s Ray Adams (59.46) and Sandburg’s Dylan Comiskey (59.86). Adams also qualified in the 50 free (21.61).
Lockport’s Josh Lantow recovered from wrist surgery in September and advanced in the 200 free (1:43.13) and 500 free (4:36.86).
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Tim Tierney is a freelance writer for the Daily Southtown.