Lewis leads Huskies at conference meet
By GEORGE M. WILCOX gwilcox@pioneerlocal.com February 7, 2012 4:08PM
Oak Park-River Forest's Kyle Patnode competes in the 200-yard medley relay at the West Suburban Conference Silver Division swim meet. | Jerry Daliege~for Sun-Times Media
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Updated: March 11, 2012 8:14AM
Another year marks another West Suburban Silver championship for Ben Lewis.
Lewis won his third consecutive conference title Friday night at Downers Grove North, but the Oak Park-River Forest senior has his eye on a bigger prize when the Fenwick Sectional begins Feb. 18. Lewis is on track to become OPRF’s first diving state champion since Ralph Trimborn in 1945.
Lewis, who finished eighth in last year’s state meet, is one of the favorites for the state meet with New Trier’s Jordan Sacks.
Lewis had little trouble in the conference meet by scoring 462.90 points for 11 dives. The runner-up was Ryan O’Donnell of Hinsdale Central with 396.70 points. OPRF’s Mick Wilson was eighth with 228.90 points.
The conference meet came less than one week after the Lyons Township Invitational Jan. 28, where Lewis scored a personal high with more than 472.55 points.
“I feel like I’m doing really well in meets,” Lewis said. “Consistency is what I like to see. I feel good going into the sectional.”
Before competing at LT, Lewis established a school record for a six-dive meet at a dual at Downers North Jan. 27.
Heading into the end of the season, Lewis said he is relying on his front 2 1/2 and back 1 1/2 to pile up considerable points. “I have those dives to rely on and I always rely on my voluntary dives,” Lewis said.
One thing Lewis did not count on during the season was losing the diving board when regulators removed OPRF’s board due to safety violations. After this season, the future is yet to determined in diving at OPRF. Huskies divers are practicing at Riverside-Brookfield after school and at Fenwick before school.
“It’s unfortunate and mostly sad. It’s my senior year, so it doesn’t affect me. I’m sad for the coaches and the future of the program. We have a nine-person team,” Lewis said.
OPRF finished third (245 points) in the conference meet. The Huskies’ top individual was Kyle Patnode with titles in the 100-yard butterfly (53.20) and 100 breaststroke (54.74). Nikita Bondarenko won the 200 IM (1:59.82) and finished second in the 100 breast (1:30.31).
Mark Hallman, a sophomore, took second in the 500 free (4:57.43) behind defending state champion and state record holder Danny Thomson (4:52.59) of Hinsdale Central. The Stanford-bound Thomson has been invited to compete in the Olympic trials this summer.
“It’s an honor swimming with Danny Thomson,” Hallman said. “It’s a tall order. He’s a fast one and just staying with him that long is just an honor for me.”
With a state qualifying time of 4:48.24, Hallman feels confident he can drop time over the two weeks between conference and sectional. He will taper for the sectional, unlike Patnode and Bondarenko.
“They have really motivated me. I watch and train with them,” said Hallman, who started out swimming at age 6 with the TOPS club behind Patnode and Bondarenko.
Hallman was fourth in the 200 free (1:53.93) at conference.
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