By matt le cren
For the Bugle
www.buglenewspapers.com
Maine South swimmer Brendan Forrest’s first appearance at the state finals didn’t get off to a good start.
But it sure ended well.
Forrest, a sophomore, made his state meet debut during Friday’s preliminary round at New Trier and did well enough to advance to Saturday’s finals in the 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle.
Maine South’s Brendan Forrest is only the third Hawk medalist since 1996. (Photo by Matt le Cren/for the Bugle)
He had the ninth-best prelims time in the 200 and sixth-fastest clocking in the 500. The top six swimmers in each event advance to the championship heat, while the next six qualify for the consolation heat. Everyone in those two heats are awarded medals.
Forrest thus should have earned two medals, but he was disqualified in the 200.
No matter, Forrest returned in the 500 and finished fifth, moving up one spot from the prelims.
His time of 4:36.38 was only slightly slower than his prelims time of 4:35.76.
“When I got DQed I was like, man, I might as well make up for that with this 500,” Forrest said. “I was pretty happy about that.”
He should be, considering Maine South is not exactly a swimming power.
Forrest is just the third swimmer since 1996 to win a state medal.
Not bad for someone who didn’t qualify for state as a freshman, though he came close in the 200.
“Last year I was at 1:45, so I only had to drop a second and I had done it in club season,” Forrest said. “So I was pretty confident I was going to go.
“When I saw how I swam at sectionals, I knew that if I repeated my times, I was almost guaranteed to get to consolation final.”
Despite the DQ in the 200, Forrest walked away satisfied with his state finals debut.
“I’m just happy that I did it,” Forrest said. “I came a lot further than I expected to come, so I’m just happy with how I performed.”
He wasn’t the only one. Several other Hawks and two relay teams participated in Friday’s prelims, which was a big step up for the program considering it had no state qualifiers in 2018.
“It feels pretty good, especially because we’re a full team,” Forrest said. “(The Hawks) are a bunch of great guys who are not in the spotlight but they’re a big reason why what we’ve been able to do so far.
“It’s almost like not just me (is) getting (a medal), but everybody gets a little spotlight.”
All of Maine South’s individual state qualifiers will be back. Junior Tommy Doubleday placed 19th in the 500 in 4:42.39 and 25th in the 200 individual medley in 1:56.86, while junior Daniel Young was 22nd in the 200 IM in 1:56.27 and junior Logan Nielson took 33rd in the 100 breaststroke in 1:00.78.
In addition, the Hawks’ 200 free relay of Young, Forrest, junior Alex Ostrowski and senior Luke Wagner finished 13th in 1:26.46, missing advancing by .11 and becoming just the third relay in school history, and first since 1967, to medal.
The 400 free relay of Forrest, Young and seniors Josef Kubis and Luke Wagner finished 16th in 3:10.93, less than two seconds shy of advancing.
“Last year everyone was close to qualifying in all their events,” Forrest said. “So we’re like, well, if we’re going to be this close, you’re going to want to go to state.”
Now, of course, Forrest and his teammates want to do it again. How high can he finish next year?
“I want to go just as far as I can,” Forrest said. “Whatever that is, I’m not going to be happy until I know that I’ve done as best as I can.”