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Sports
Swim team prepares to avenge losses to DeKalb, Morris : Sports : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisSwim team prepares to avenge losses to DeKalb, Morris
| January schedule provides big tests for boys' squad
| by Kristin Sharp
| 12/31/2009
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After a month of swimming and diving, there is plenty of buzz surrounding the Oswego co-op boys' program as January gets underway.
The squad closed out the opening month of the season by finishing eighth at the Neuqua Valley Invitational on Dec. 19 and will kick off 2010 at the Waubonsie Valley Aqua Pentathlon this Saturday.
"The kids put in the time in the offseason, so we're in a much better spot than we were last year," head coach Deryl Leubner said of the Oswego boys' co-op team. "The kids have a good chance to be top five [at the pentathlon] this year."
At the two-day Neuqua Valley Invitational, Oswego scored 124 points behind several top-eight finishes to give the team a much-improved finish over last year. Naperville North (442.33) won the invite ahead of Neuqua Valley (433.33) and Naperville Central (410) - both top-five finishers at state last year, while Hinsdale Central (198), Lockport (191.33), Lincoln-Way North (170), St. Charles East (128), Lincoln-Way East (111), St. Charles North (101) and West Aurora (16) also competed in the 11-team meet.
"We did very well. Last year we didn't score a point and this year we scored 124, so we did really well," Leubner said. "We swam people at the frosh/soph level, which we haven't done in years past. It's a real fast meet with Neuqua and Hinsdale Central, so we had some top-eight finishes, which was solid."
Senior Justin Reppy, a state qualifier in the 500-yard freestyle last year, returns to the lineup along with senior George Minkel, who saw success last year in the 50 free and 100 free at sectionals. Sophomores Dylan Coonradt and Brian Bernier, also sectional competitors one year ago, are back in the pool as well. Coonradt and Bernier gave the team depth in the 200 IM last year, while Coonradt swam the 100 fly and Bernier the breaststroke at sectionals.
Freshmen Michal Gliszewski and Tyler Coonradt are promising newcomers to the varsity lineup.
"I think this could be our best boys' season ever," Leubner said. "For the first time, we don't have the specialty swimmers that we've had in the past. Everybody seems to be an IMer, so we have a lot of flexibility. This is going to be one of those years where our top two go to sectionals but the third might be just as good as the top two."
Junior Doug Ogilvie will be a key scorer in the diving events this season as well.
"Doug had a tremendous offseason. I think he's ready to make that next step. The degree of difficulty list is higher," Leubner said.
Following the Aqua Pentathlon, Oswego will travel to DeKalb, the defending Independent Conference champion, for a triangular meet with Fenton on Jan. 7 at 5 p.m. The team will then host Riverside-Brookfield on Jan. 14 before the R-B Invitational on Jan. 16. The team is also looking forward to its final dual meet of the season on Jan. 28 against Morris at home where Oswego hopes to avenge last year's loss the Redskins.
"We want to stay healthy and compete well. One of the big dates on the calendar is Jan. 7 against Fenton and DeKalb. That's where we think we can see what DeKalb has this year. As the defending champs, this is the one to look at. They want to get Morris back too. This group of guys is the first to lose to Morris in seven or eight years," Leubner said.
Notes: Oswego started off the season on Dec. 10 with a 98-87 loss to Hinsdale South before falling to Marmion - a fourth-place finisher at state last season - on Dec. 15. The team picked up its first dual meet victory on Dec. 17 with a 94-83 win over Benet Academy.
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