Boys swim and dive season has started so we reached out to all the teams in the CPL to see how the coaches feel their teams will do this season.
*All coaches were contacted for this piece multiple times. Those who responded are mentioned below.
School: Curie High School
Key Swimmers returning:
Team Captain Adan Garcia, 12th (200 Medley 100 fly 200 free relay & 100 breast)
Fabian Morales, 10th (200 Medley Relay 50 free 100 free 200 free relay)
Key Newcomers:
Kevin Gama, 9th (200 Medley Relay 200 free relay 50 free &100 free)
Noah Hoop, 9th (200 Medley Relay 200 free relay 50 free &100 free)
Isaac Alcala, 12th (500 free 200 free relay 400 free relay)
Antonio Sarmiento, 9th (100 Back 200 free relay 400 free relay)
Tournament: Participating in the South Side Invitational as defending Champions
Coach’s Season Outlook: Our goal is to repeat the accomplishments we had last year with winning the Silver Conference South Invitational and either placing 2nd or winning City Relays and placing in the top 5 for City and Sectionals. Freshman Kevin Gama has the potential of making the IHSA State Series in the 50 free and 100 free. We will work on achieving that goal for him and the school.
School: Hubbard High School
Social media: HHSGREYHOUNDS (Instagram)
Key swimmers returning (Name, year in school, strokes/relays):
Kevin Melendez – Captain, Senior. 100 Freestyle
Juan Aguilar – Co-Captain, Senior, 200 IM
Angel Lara – Jr, 100 Backstroke
Key newcomers (Name, year in school, stroke/relay):
Aaron Torres, Freshman, 50 yd free
Anthony Reyes, Freshman, 50 yd free
Coach’s season outlook:
It’s a rebuilding era, but luckily we got the numbers and young athletes, we plan to train and stand out.
School: Lane Tech
Key Returnees:
George Ivascu, Junior, Distance Freestyle. Qualified for State last year.
Alek Arsic, Soph, Sprint Freestyle
Aidan Kaplan, Soph, Butterfly and Backstroke
Owen Huynh, Soph, Backstroke and Butterfly
Newcomers:
Ashton Boeke, Freshman, Freestyle
Ivan Goncharko, Freshman, Breaststroke and Freestyle
Alexander Ivascu, Freshman, I.M., Breaststroke, and Distance Freestyle
Key Meets:
Jones on December 14th
Whitney Young on January 11th
Coach’s Outlook:
This is a very exciting year for Lane Tech Boys swimming. Our team is larger and faster than it has been within the last 10 years. We’re hopeful to send several individuals to the State swim meet along with a couple relays.
School: Northside College Prep
Key swimmers returning (Name, year in school, strokes/relays, honors):
- Gavin Stiglitz, Senior, Backstroke/Freestyle, Senior Captain
- Ryan Schubeck, Senior, Fly/Freestyle, Senior Captain
- Jay Huang, Sophomore, Backstroke/Freestyle, Sophomore Captain
Key newcomers (Name, year in school, stroke/relay):
- Chris Naglestad, Freshman, Fly/Freestyle
- Nolan Lujan, Freshman, Breaststroke/Freestyle
Coach’s season outlook: Extremely excited to work with this year’s Men’s swimming team. We added 16 new members to our program this year, almost doubling the total number of athletes. Some key prospects from the newest swimmers could assist in maintaining NCP as a top-5 program for the Chicago Public League.
School: Prosser Career Academy
Key swimmers returning (Name, year in school, strokes/relays):
David Rodriguez, Grade 12, Fly and Free, 200 Medley Relay and 400 free relay
Adrian Hernandez, Grade 11, Free, 200 Medley Relay and 400 Free Relay
Bryan Flores, Grade 10, Free and Breaststroke, 200 Medley Relay and 400 Free relay
Key newcomers (Name, year in school, stroke/relay):
Cristopher Anzurez, Grade 9, Free, Back and Breaststroke, 200 Medley Relay and 400 Free Relay
Carlos Daniel Lopez-Rincon, Grade 9, Free, 200 free relay
Felix Chavez, Grade 9, Free
Noe Paz, Grade 10, Free, 200 Free Relay
Jeremiah Holt, Grade 9, Free
Kevin Diaz-Urquiza, Grade 9, Free, 200 Free Relay
Julian Cebrero, Grade 9, Free, 200 Free Relay
Coach’s season outlook:
We have some returning swimmers and some new swimmers. Starting with fundamentals to become good swimmers and work towards personal best times. Boys are putting in the work to win their respective events.
School: Senn High School
Social media: senn_aquatics on Instagram
Key swimmers returning (Name, year in school, strokes/relays):
Tobias Zeeck, 11th grade, 100yd Butterfly, Medley Relay
Daniel Ballard, 11th grade, 100 yard Backstroke, Medley Relay
Key newcomers (Name, year in school, stroke/relay):
Eduardo Luna, 11th grade, 50 Free, 100 Free
Key tournament:
City Championship
Coach’s season outlook:
We are looking to build on last year’s success as conference champion, as well as individual city champions. As every year we are looking to build the program, as well as increase the number of our swimmers.
School: Taft
Key swimmers returning (Name, year in school, strokes/relays): John Allison, Senior, 10 Breaststroke, 50 free, 200 Med relay, 200 free relay.
Key duals: vs. Lincoln Park, our Senior Night, January 23rd
Coach’s season outlook: We have a young team this year, we have only two seniors and lots of freshmen, it will be a fun season.
School: Westinghouse College Prep
Social media: @gwcpaquatics (instagram)
Key swimmers returning (Name, year in school, strokes/relays):
Giancarlos Alameda is returning for his second year on the squad. He carried the 200 freestyle all last year and is looking to do the same this year.
Key newcomers (Name, year in school, stroke/relay):
Ira Sherlock, Cristian Hernandez, & Edward Reyes are all additions to the team this year. These underclassmen have strong fundamentals and are looking to post strong times in their CPL debut. Alex Berg is also an addition to this year’s squad, the senior has largely swam club up until this year and is looking to turn heads.
Key duals/tournaments:
We’ve set our sights on our conference championship. This squad has yet to win some hardware so a conference title will give the squad primarily made up of sophomores & juniors the confidence they need to continue to improve.
Coach’s season outlook:
Some strong talent walked on the team this year and we’re hoping to use that talent and translate it into some top times in school history. If we’re able to train consistently, stay healthy, and avoid mistakes we can be a strong contender in our conference.
