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How history was made at Saturday's South Bend city boys swim meet

austin hough, south bend tribune
·8 min read

SOUTH BEND — It’s rare for something new to happen at an old and historic event like the South Bend boys swimming city meet.

That happened Saturday, however, as a Trinity at Greenlawn athlete etched his name into the record books for the first time in the near-eight decades of the event.

Will Scarlett became the first Titans swimmer to not only compete in the meet, but win a race as well. The junior won the 500-yard freestyle championship and finished second in the 200-yard freestyle, scoring 37 “team” points for Trinity at the meet.

Riley would win the city meet for a 10th-straight year, scoring 532 team points.

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“It’s pretty awesome, especially with all the support I’ve gotten from school and my classmates,” Scarlett said. “When they do announcements on how I do at swim meets, they show me so much support, banging on the tables because they’re so excited about it. It’s been great.”

South Bend Trinity at Greenlawn's Will Scarlett competes in the 500-yard freestyle race during the boys swimming city meet Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024, at Riley High School. Scarlett won the race, making him the first winner from Trinity in city meet history.
South Bend Trinity at Greenlawn's Will Scarlett competes in the 500-yard freestyle race during the boys swimming city meet Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024, at Riley High School. Scarlett won the race, making him the first winner from Trinity in city meet history.

Scarlett spent his freshman year at Saint Joseph before transferring to Trinity at Greenlawn as a sophomore. Changing to the South Bend Swim Club is where Scarlett’s chance of swimming in high school meets again began, as Riley head coach John VanDriessche also oversees the club. It was suggested by VanDriessche that Scarlett apply for a waiver through the IHSAA that would allow him to practice with the Riley team, yet stay a member of the Trinity roster.

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The waiver was approved, and Scarlett couldn’t be more thankful for it.

“I’m blessed to have this experience and opportunity,” Scarlett said. “I wouldn’t trade anything for it. … I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for VanDriessche.”

VanDriessche noted that Scarlett has been a nice addition to the team, even if he isn’t officially part of it.

“He’s a good kid with a good work ethic,” VanDriessche said. “If he wasn’t, we wouldn’t have given him the opportunity. He’s doing a nice job and has molded really well with the team. It’s kind of hard at meets because I’m not allowed to coach him at meets, so I just give him nods and leave it at that. But it’s been a good experience for him and us.”

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For Scarlett, he hopes that high school isn’t the last time he swims competitively.

“I’m just trying to keep dropping my times and improve my technique,” Scarlett said. “I’m hoping to swim in college; that’s my goal. I’m trying to do everything that I can to get to that point.”

Riley turns its focus to postseason prep

The Wildcats won 10 of 12 events Saturday, with the only losses coming in the aforementioned 500-yard freestyle and because of a false start in the 200-yard freestyle relay.

South Bend Riley's Joel Kricheff competes in the 100-yard breaststroke race during the boys swimming city meet Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024, at Riley High School.
South Bend Riley's Joel Kricheff competes in the 100-yard breaststroke race during the boys swimming city meet Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024, at Riley High School.

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“Every meet, we want them to focus on the race they have in front of them because you never know when it’s going to be your last time getting up on the blocks,” VanDriessche said. “We knew we were going to win the meet just based on our top four athletes — they’re some of the best in the entire state, so we just wanted them to go out and have fun. If you’re having fun, you’re swimming fast.”

As VanDriessche alluded to, it’s a Riley team that features four stout swimmers in seniors Christopher Bartmess, Joel Kricheff and Ignatius Ruszkowski, and junior Padraig Chapman that led the Wildcats to a sectional title and sixth-place finish at state last year. All four won multiple events Saturday, and the focus for VanDriessche now shifts to getting his team ready for the sectional meet Feb. 17.

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“With our top four guys, our focus is the state championship,” VanDriessche said. “Obviously, the conference (meet Jan. 27) is important to us, but we feel like we’re in a lock for second place there. The sectional is obviously important as well because if we don’t get out of sectional, we don’t go to the state meet.

“We’re going into sectional with the thought process of it being step one of the state championship series. We have to do a good job there so we can go down (to state) and show everyone just how good we really are.”

2024 South Bend boys swimming city championship meet – results

Team scores: 1. Riley 532; 2. Adams 452; 3. Saint Joseph 424; 4. Washington 44; 5. Trinity at Greenlawn 37

1-meter diving: 1. Eliot Riem (Riley) 355.10; 2. Trystan Lathon (Riley) 318.40; 3. Tomas Velez (Adams) 280.85; 4. Nick Baxter (Saint Joseph) 264.85.

200-yard medley relay: 1. Riley ‘A’ (Joel Kricheff, Ignatius Ruszkowski, Christ Bartmess and Lawrence Carpenter) 1:41.00; 2. Riley ‘B’ (Landon Eickelberry, Anthony Schmok, Isaac Riem and Eliot Riem) 1:52.55; 3. Saint Joseph ‘A’ (Jack Erdman, Charlie Helm, Zachary Pendergrass and Joe Nesser) 2:09.80; 4. Saint Joseph ‘B’ (Ege Babaoglu, Caden Clifford, Nate Weber and Matthew Albert) 2:27.06. (Both Adams teams disqualified)

200-yard freestyle: 1. Padraig Chapman (Riley) 1:44.83; 2. Will Scarlett (Trinity) 1:53.00; 3. Isaac Shrader (Adams) 1:58.76; 4. Dominic Vitale-Richards (Riley) 2:03.18; 5. Charlie Weber (Saint Joseph) 2:13.15; 6. Isaac Riem (Riley) 2:15.81; 7. Ege Babaoglu (Saint Joseph) 2:26.25; 8. Ben McVeigh (Adams) 2:32.76; 9. Caden Clifford (Saint Joseph) 3:03.44; 10. Zach Williams (Adams) 3:11.71.

200-yard individual medley: 1. Landon Eickelberry (Riley) 2:10.59; 2. Zac Richardson (Adams) 2:25.36; 3. Charlie Helm (Saint Joseph) 2:36.76; 4. Nate Weber (Saint Joseph) 2:47.99; 5. Zachary Pendergrass (Saint Joseph) 2:57.61; 6. Quinn Walker (Riley) 2:59.52; 7. Eli Brown (Washington) 3:06.76; 8. Owen Kedlik (Adams) 3:08.15.

50-yard freestyle: 1. Chris Bartmess (Riley) 22.05; 2. Joel Kricheff (Riley) 22.48; 3. Donovan Go (Adams) 25.04; 4. Henson Le (Adams) 25.17; 5. Raul Lara (Saint Joseph) 25.73; 6. Joe Nesser (Saint Joseph) 28.21; 7. Santiago Para Janzen (Adams) 30.32; 8. Termain Williams (Washington) 30.48; 9. Nick Baxter (Saint Joseph) 34.38.

100-yard butterfly: 1. Chris Bartmess (Riley) 50.72; 2. Lawrence Carpenter (Riley) 1:01.81; 3. Henson Le (Adams) 1:03.11; 4. Zac Richardson (Adams) 1:07.44; 5. Isaac Riem (Riley) 1:08.74; 6. Jack Erdman (Saint Joseph) 1:11.66; 7. Zachary Pendergrass (Saint Joseph) 1:22.34; 8. Jesse Rabbitt (Adams) 1:23.64.

100-yard freestyle: 1. Ignatius Ruszkowski (Riley) 50.45; 2. Donovan Go (Adams) 53.07; 3. Anthony Schmok (Riley) 54.31; 4. Jonah Weikel (Adams) 57.28; 5. Felipe Jauregui (Adams) 57.36; 6. Eliot Riem (Riley) 58.05; 7. Charlie Weber (Saint Joseph) 58.30; 8. Joe Nesser (Saint Joseph) 1:04.47; 9. Matthew Albert (Saint Joseph) 1:12.78; 10. Termain Williams (Washington) 1:21.77.

500-yard freestyle: Will Scarlett (Trinity) 5:11.42; 2. Isaac Shrader (Adams) 5:28.66; 3. Dominic Vitale-Richards (Riley) 5:33.28; 4. Jack Erdman (Saint Joseph) 5:46.82; 5. Lawrence Carpenter (Riley) 5:55.64; 6. Jesse Rabbitt (Adams) 7:03.70; 7. Ben McVeigh (Adams) 7:10.50; 8. Quinn Walker (Riley) 7:12.60.

200-yard freestyle relay: 1. Adams ‘A’ (Jonah Weikel, Donovan Go, Henson Le and Isaac Shrader), 1:42.50; 2. Saint Joseph ‘A’ (Raul Lara, Joe Nesser, Charlie Helm and Charlie Weber), 1:50.43; 3. Saint Joseph ‘B’ (Nate Weber, Zachary Pendergrass, Caden Clifford and Matthew Albert), 2:05.96; 4. Adams ‘B’ (Tomas Velez, Owen Kedik, Santiago Para Janzen and Zach Williams), 2:14.01. (Riley disqualified).

100-yard backstroke: 1. Ignatius Ruszkowski (Riley) 52.99; 2. Padraig Chapman (Riley) 53.56; 3. Felipe Jauregui (Adams) 1:11.95; 4. Owen Kedik (Adams) 1:13.50; 5. Eli Brown (Washington) 1:14.02; 6. Ege Babaoglu (Saint Joseph) 1:15.61; 7. Nate Weber (Saint Joseph) 1:25.42; 8. Zach Williams (Adams) 2:14.43.

100-yard breaststroke: 1. Joel Kricheff (Riley) 1:01.24; 2. Anthony Schmok (Riley) 1:06.60; 3. Landon Eickelberry (Riley) 1:09.87; 4. Jonah Weikel (Adams) 1:17.27; 5. Charlie Helm (Saint Joseph) 1:19.78; 6. Raul Lara (Saint Joseph) 1:26.36; 7. Leo Ponte-Pianas (Adams) 1:26.91; 8. Caden Clifford (Saint Joseph) 1:38.22.

400-yard freestyle relay: 1. Riley ‘A’ (Ignatius Ruszkowski, Padraig Chapman, Anthony Schmok and Joel Kricheff) 3:38.77; 2. Adams ‘A’ (Isaac Shrader, Donovan Go, Henson Le and Jonah Weikel) 3:47.12; 3. Riley ‘B’ (Dominic Vitale-Richards, Eliot Riem, Isaac Riem and Landon Eickelberry) 3:57.44; 4. Saint Joseph (Charlie Weber, Ege Babaoglu, Raul Lara and Jack Erdman) 4:16.32; 5. Adams ‘B’ (Zac Richardson, Felipe Jauregui, Ben McVeigh and Jesse Rabbitt) 4:19.16.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: How history was made at Saturday's South Bend city boys swim meet