Riley's Bartmess wins state title, leads Wildcats to sixth at IHSAA boys swimming finals
INDIANAPOLIS — Chris Bartmess doesn’t smile much, but he couldn’t help himself Saturday.
Years of hard work paid off for the South Bend Riley senior, winning the 100-yard breaststroke championship at the IHSAA boys swimming state finals at the IU Natatorium. He became the first area athlete to win a state title since Northridge’s Sawyer Lehman in 2017 and first from a South Bend school since Saint Joseph’s Trevor Carroll triumphed in the 200-yard freestyle in 2013.
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“It feels really nice,” Bartmess said. “I feel like all of my hard work paid off. … In the breaststroke, I was 100% confident coming into this meet. I knew I was going to walk away with the blue ribbon.”
Bartmess dominated the race, winning with a time of 53.78 seconds. The next closest was Carmel’s Brandon Malicki with a time of 55.12 seconds.
“He puts in a lot of work, and he earned it,” said Riley coach John VanDriessche of Bartmess. “I don’t think you can put into words what it means to see something like this. It’s such a rarity, so it’s hard to express. You’re just really happy for the kid overall.”
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The victory was one of four podium finishes for Bartmess Saturday. He was second as part of the 200-yard medley relay, seventh on the 400-yard freestyle relay and fourth in the 100-yard butterfly. Seniors Joel Kricheff and Ignatius Ruszkowski and junior Padraig Chapman joined Bartmess on both relays.
Individually, Ruszkowski finished fifth in the 100-yard backstroke and 13th in the 200-yard individual medley, while Kricheff took 10th in the 100-yard butterfly.
“I’m not as emotional as I thought I would be,” Bartmess said. “Everything has to come to an end eventually, but it was really fun to be part of this team. You can never forget your brothers.”
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Riley finished in sixth place as a team, matching where it finished last season.
“We didn’t swim poorly; a lot of other teams just swam really well,” VanDriessche said. “It’s a big stage, and sometimes, if you’re not 100% on your game and a race is decided by tenths of one hundred of a second, it’s gets really close.
“We did a nice job. I’m really proud of what the boys did. We’re a top six team in the state of the Indiana, and that’s saying a lot. We wanted more, but we’re not going to hang our heads, that’s for sure.”
During the meet, VanDriessche was recognized as the Coach of the Year by the Indiana High School Swimming Coaches Association.
“Maybe it was a sympathy award because we didn’t swim our best Friday night (at prelims),” VanDriessche joked. “It’s an incredible honor and I’m humbled by it, to be honest. It was completely unexpected and it’s very humbling.”
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Riley's Bartmess wins state title, leads Wildcats to sixth at IHSAA boys swimming finals
