Riley, Concord claim boys sectional swim crowns

Tribune Staff Report
·6 min read

It was the hosts who had the most Saturday in local high school boys swim sectional competition.

Riley upended four-time defending champion Penn to earn the crown in South Bend. Host Concord outpointed runner-up Wawasee to win its fourth straight sectional title.

Riley, which was sectional runner-up to Penn a year ago by just 11 points, totaled 522 points. The Kingsmen finished runner-up with 499.5 points with New Prairie third with 334.

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The individual sectional champion in each event, as well as any other swimmer making the state cut time, advances to the State Finals next Friday and Saturday at the IU Natatorium on the IUPUI campus in Indianapolis.

The top four divers at each sectional site advance to the Mishawaka Regional Tuesday night.

Christopher Bartmess of South Bend Riley competes in the 200 Yard Individual Medley during the NIC Boys Swimming Finals Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023 at the Elkhart Aquatics Center.
Christopher Bartmess of South Bend Riley competes in the 200 Yard Individual Medley during the NIC Boys Swimming Finals Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023 at the Elkhart Aquatics Center.

Junior Christopher Bartmess was the star for the home Wildcats Saturday. Bartmess won the 100 breaststroke event in a sectional record time of 55.44. He also swam on both of Riley's championship relay teams, including the 200 medley relay foursome that also set a sectional record. Bartmess teamed with Ignatius Ruszkowski, Joel Kricheff and Padraig Chapman to win the relay in a sectional mark of 1:32.28.

The Wildcats, who also finished second to Penn in the recent NIC Meet, won 10 of the 12 events en route to the sectional trophy.

The trio of senior Jarek Ruszkowski, junior Ignatius Ruszkowski and sophomore Chapman each won a pair of individual events for Riley. Eliot Riem won the diving competition for the Wildcats.

Depth carries Concord

The host Minutemen used a balanced team effort to earn the title.

Concord won four events, which included wins in a pair of relay races to earn huge points. The duo of Reid Sollars and Cole Stevenson each swam on both relay title teams for Concord.

The Minutmen also had four runner-up finishes in their championship effort.

Elkhart standout Lucas Byrd was the individual sectional star as he won both the 50 freestyle and the 100 breaststroke titles.

Chesterton rolls at Valpo

Chesterton won its 25th straight sectional crown in easy fashion at Valparaiso.

The Trojans piled up 542 points with the host Vikings second at 381. LaPorte was third with 299 points with Michigan City sixth with 159.

At Riley

TEAM SCORES: Riley 522, Penn 499.5, New Prairie 334, Adams 228.5, Bremen 150, Mishawaka 115, Saint Joseph 89, Marian 68, Clay 63, Washington 55

200 MEDLEY RELAY: 1. Riley (Ignatius Ruszkowski, Christopher Bartmess, Joel Kricheff, Padraig Chapman), 1:32.28 (sectional record). 2. Penn (Leo Ni, Collin Fleming, Nathaniel Reininga, Christopher Oberlie), 1:33.57 (makes state cut time). 3. New Prairie (Dustyn Starkey, Joseph Pumroy, Ethan Radtke, Gavin Pizarek), 1:37.88.

200 FREESTYLE: 1. Jarek Ruszkowski (Riley) 1:41.23, 2. Nathaniel Tamales (Penn) 1:42.70 (makes state cut time), 3. Cooper VanDriessche (Riley) 1:44.90.

200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY: 1. I. Ruszkowski (Riley) 1:53.23. 2. Christopher Bartmess (Riley) 1:54.60 (makes state cut time). 3. Leo Ni (Penn) 1:58.00.

50 FREESTYLE: 1. Padraig Chapman (Riley) 21.12. 2. Nathaniel Reininga (Penn) 21.60. 3. Ashton Maurer (Riley) 21.71.

DIVING: 1. Eliot Riem (Riley) 296.95. 2. Omar Zidan (Penn) 294.45. 3. Austin Shippee (New Prairie) 237.10. 4. Tyrstan Lathien (Riley) 223.25.

100 BUTTERFLY: 1. Nathaniel Reininga (Penn) 51.05. 2. Joel Kricheff (Riley) 51.99. 3. Collin Fleming (Penn) 52.30.

100 FREESTYLE: 1. Padraig Chapman (Riley) 46.43. 2. Reid Ohlson (Penn) 47.73. 3. Christopher Oberlie (Penn) 47.99.

500 FREESTYLE: 1. J. Ruszkowski (Riley) 4:43.89. 2. Nathaniel Tamales (Penn) 4:43.97. 3. Cooper VanDreiessche (Riley) 4:44.91.

200 FREESTYLE RELA Y: 1. Riley (Maurer, Chapman, Bartmess, J. Ruszkowski) 1:24.70. 2. Penn (Reininga, Tamales, Ohlson, Tristan Zuyderwyk) 1:25.96 (makes state cut time). 3. New Prairie (Gavin Pizarek, Tristan Peterson, Dustyn Starkey, Ethan Radtke).

100 BACKSTROKE: 1. I. Ruszkowski (Riley) 50.21. 2. Elliott Dye (Penn) 51.76. 3. Leo Ni (Penn) 53.20.

100 BREASTSTROKE: 1. Christopher Bartmess (Riley) 55.44 (new sectional record). 2. Collin Fleming (Penn( 56.96 (makes state cut time). 3. Ashton Maurer (Riley) 59.53.

400 FREESTYLE RELAY: 1. Penn (Oberlie, Ni, Tamales, Ohlson) 3:10.83. 2. Riley (Kricheff, J. Ruszkowski, I. Ruszkowski, VanDriessche) 3:15.40. 3. Adams (Le Henson, Donovan Go, Miguel Sanchez-Castaneda, Andre Bowman) 3:27.67.

At Concord

TEAM SCORES: Concord 447, Wawasee 319, Northridge 293.5, Goshen 278, Elkhart 243, NorthWood 218, Angola 144.5, East Noble 122, DeKalb 49, Jimtown 13, Fremont 2.

200 MEDLEY RELAY: 1. Concord (Reid Sollars, Brayden Sollars, Cole Stevenson, Austin Zimmerman) 1:36.15. 2. Elkhart (Gabe Kazmierczak, Lucas Byrd, Christian Khamkueang, G Sommer) 1:36.31 (makes state cut time). 3. Northridge (Sawyer Lehman, Jeremiah Belchtereu, Tim Blough, Evan Haney) 1:40.36.

200 FREESTYLE: 1. Levi Moser (Goshen) 1:42.47. 2. Thomas Brunner (Concord) 1:43.54. 3. William Delio (Concord) 1:48.88.

200 IM: 1. Sawyer Lehman (Northridge) 1:51.73. 2. Cole Stevenson (Concord) 1:51.80 (makes state cut time). 3. Gabe Kazmierczak (Elkhart) 1:55.43.

50 FREESTYLE: 1. Lucas Byrd (Elkhart) 20.69. 2. Joseph Hahn (NorthWood) 21.03 (makes state cut time). 3. Brayden Sollars (Concord) 22/07.

DIVING: 1. Nick Hardy (Elkhart) 419.15. 2. Nathan Gaby (Goshen) 352.25. 3. Alan Arriaga Perez (Concord) 326.80. 4. Kael Bestul (Goshen) 325.20.

100 BUTTERFLY: 1. Ivan Blystic (Concord) 52.08. 2. Camden Stutsman (Concord) 53.73. 3. Nathan Kryder (Wawasee) 53.82.

100 FREESTYLE: 1. Joseph Hahn (NorthWood) 46.96. 2. Sawyer Lehman (Northridge) 47.86. 3. Nathan Harper (Wawasee) 47.91.

500 FREESTYLE: 1. Thomas Brunner (Concord) 4:39.48. 2. Levi Maurer (Goshen) 4:42.02 (makes state cut time). 3. Evan Haney (Northridge) 4:50.89.

200 FREESTYLE RELAY: 1. Goshen (Moser, Jeremy Stutzman, Skye Steury, Maxim Yegorov) 1:27.71. 2. Elkhart (Sommer, Byrd, Kazmierczak, Khamkueong) 1:27.88. 3. Concord (Zimmerman, Delio, Sollars, Brunner) 1:28.46.

100 BACKSTROKE: 1. Gabe Kazmierczak (Elkhart) 51.56. 2. Nathan Harper (Wawasee) 52.50. 3. Jeremy Stutsman (Goshen) 53.26.

100 BREASTSTROKE: 1. Lucas Byrd (Elkhart) 55.76. 2. Cole Stevenson (Concord) 56.16 (makes state cut time). 3. Brayden Sollars (Concord) 56.75 (makes state cut time).

400 FREESTYLE RELAY: 1. Concord (Brunner, Blystiv, R. Sollars, Stevenson) 3:14.66. 2. Wawasee (N. Kryder, Z. Kryder, Harper, Cade Garden) 3:17.00. 3. NorthWood (Ty Stankovich, Andrew Williams, Skee Mishler, Joseph Hahn) 3:18.11.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Roundup of area IHSAA boys swimming sectionals at Riley, Concord and Valpo