The ending was spectacular, but ultimately unnecessary.
The Lyons boys swimming and diving team was in position to win the program’s first state championship with one event remaining on Saturday, Feb. 27 in Evanston. The Lions, who used their depth and talent to move into first, were 18 points ahead of second-place Naperville Central with only the 400-yard freestyle relay remaining.
Lyons coach Scott Walker filled in the members of the 400 free relay — junior Ryan Hammond, senior Ben Breitenbucher, senior Weston Credit and sophomore Henry Claesson — on what they needed to do to win the state team championship. Hammond, the relay’s first leg, had to make sure he got into the water. The relay’s other three swimmers had to be very cautious on their exchanges. A disqualification would have been catastrophic.
In reality, only a disqualification in the 400 free relay would have kept Lyons from winning a state championship. But Walker, who was one of several Lions doing math on the fly, said he told the final three swimmers of the Lions’ 400 free relay that finishing fifth or better would secure an outright team championship.
“I thought, ‘If we get fourth, that’s cool,'” Walker said, after Lyons won its first-ever state title. “But that’s not what (the relay) ended up doing.”
Hammond began the race cleanly, but Hinsdale Central standout Franco Reyes — the junior won the 100 butterfly and led the Red Devils to victories in the 200 medley relay and 200 free relay on Saturday — gave his team a 1.59-second lead over Lyons after his leg of the 400 free relay. Breitenbucher and Credit closed the gap on Hinsdale Central, however.
Only Claesson was left to swim when Credit touched the wall. At that point, the Lions trailed the Red Devils by .11 seconds.
“When I dove in, I realized, ‘Oh, we really have a chance to win this,'” Claesson said. “I … tried to get up and go, and finish the meet strong for the team.”
Claesson passed Hinsdale Central anchor William Bowater in the final 50 yards of the relay, causing Lyons’ large group of supporters — almost all of whom donned gold T-shirts — to cheer as loudly as they had all day. After Claesson touched the wall and the result was official, the other three members of the 400 free relay hugged outside of the pool, knowing they were state champions.
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“That was a great way to end it,” Walker said.
Lyons finished with 146 points. Naperville Central took second (122). Hinsdale Central was third (117).
Lyons’ victory in the 400 free relay supplied an unforgettable ending, but the Lions were able to win their team title because of how they performed at the state preliminaries on Friday, Feb. 26 and in the Saturday events that preceded the final relay.
Lyons’ 200 medley relay began Saturday’s meet by finishing second. Its 200 free relay was third. Aside from that, six athletes scored points in at least one individual event at the state finals: senior Chris Phillips (fifth, 200 IM; eighth, 100 breaststroke), Credit (seventh, 200 IM; fourth, 100 breaststroke), Hammond (ninth, 50 free), junior Seamus Scotty (fifth, diving), Claesson (10th, 100 free) and sophomore Spencer Walker (eighth, 500 free; sixth, 100 backstroke).
“A lot of teams have the fast-end swimmers,” Phillips said, “but what’s different about LT is we have so much depth.”
Phillips said that after he finished eighth in the 100 breaststroke. Moments earlier, Credit took fourth in the championship heat of the 100 breaststroke. Together, they earned 16 points toward Lyons’ team score.
In doing so, Phillips and Credit put their team 18 points ahead of second-place Naperville Central entering the 400 free relay. It was somewhat fitting, given the Lions’ superior depth, that it was a fourth- and an eighth-place finish that essentially secured the team title before the 400 free relay ended the meet with an unforgettable exclamation point.
“This truly was a team effort,” Scott Walker said.
Van Dril is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @VanDrilSports