The Swimming Scene: CHSAA Championships Primer

St. Anthony’s won the dual-meet season for the first time in school history, and the team could very well be headed for a first place finish at the CHSAA finals. Last year St. Anthony’s tied with Fordham Prep in the league to become co-champs in the regular season, but as coach Dan McBride says, that doesn’t really count.

Plus last season ended with Fordham Prep beating St. Anthony’s by 17 points, extending St. Anthony’s swimming’s title drought to…well…forever. But this season is shaping up to be quite different.

"As far as last year and this year, my guys are definitely a little bit faster," McBride said. "Fordham graduated a bunch of good swimmers, so overall their times were probably a bit weaker than some of the championship teams."

St. Anthony’s is hoping the team’s depth will finally get it over the hump.

"Going from dual meets to the championships, you’re adding in a fourth entry and that’s where teams like Chaminade and Fordham Prep are stronger," McBride said. "I’m hoping that with our fourth entry in there our depth will carry us. This is the closest I’ve been to ever having a shot."

We all know that depth wins championships in swimming, which St. Anthony’s does have. But the team also has a great deal of versatility.

McBride: "That’s what’s really helped us this year. My lineup against Chaminade was different than my lineup against Fordhamp Prep (in the regular season) so I was able to move guys around to exploit our strengths."

Mike Forgione, a senior captain, is "the fastest sprinter that we’ve had on the team, fastest in the 100 freestyle at least. Him being able to move around, he’s probably the No. 1 go-to guy that we have."

After Forgione the depth kicks in, where swimmers like Monte Jiran will do their thing.

But this isn’t a two-team race, and Chaminade also stands a good shot at the title. Prior to last season, Chaminade hadn’t finished lower than second place in the CHSAA Championships. This year swimmers like Dan Wallace could return Chaminade at least to their former prominence.

In terms of the teams, Chaminade, St. Anthony’s and Fordham Prep. are going to stack up 1-2-3 in some order.

In terms of players, I would certainly expect Jack Wagner to shine as he always does.

"Oh yea, he’s incredible," McBride said. "He could pick an event and just go win it."

Prediction: St. Anthony’s wins its first ever CHSAA title, Chaminade moves back to second place and Jack Wagner is awesome (I kind of feel bad labeling the last observation as a "prediction" and not a "fact.")