The Niles North swim team came through this year at the state meet at Evanston Township High School. Having won conference back-to-back years, the team was ready for a bigger challenge. At sectionals, the Vikings swam to a great victory, qualifying seven swimmers for events at State. Viking’s swim coach Seth Orlove was pleased with the team’s prospects going into the state meet. “This was the most qualifiers we’ve sent at one time. It was a very talented squad, and I’m very proud of the growth and development of both the boys program and our success over the past 2-3 years,” Orlove said.

On Feb. 24 the qualifiers gathered at Evanston’s aquatics center for the competition.

Although junior Karol Mlynarsky was the only Viking swimmer to make it to the final round in his events, all of the Vikings’ performances were commendable. Junior Javed Avdic placed 30th in the 50-yard freestyle (21.95). He also placed 28th in the 100-yard butterfly (52.53). Senior Richard Gomez raced the 500-yard freestyle (4.48.06) and placed 26th. Junior Max Wall qualified for the 100-yard backstroke. He finished in 43rd place (1.01.35). In the 200- yard medley relay, a team comprised of senior Ammar Shah, junior Earl Kim, junior Aaron Brown and Gomez finished in 35th place (1:40.58).

In the 200-yard freestyle relay the Vikings suffered a heartbreaker. The team came in 13th place in a meet where the top 12 qualify for the final round. A team comprised of Avdic, Brown, Shah and Mlynarsky finished with a time of 1.27.09. Hoffman Estates narrowly beat them out by .12 seconds. “The boys were a little disappointed to get so close to a top 12 place” Orlove said, “but three of the four return next year, and that’s something we’ll be shooting for”.

The same four swimmers also competed together in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Here they placed 15th (3.12.92). They missed out on the 12th spot by 1.98 seconds.

However Mlynarsky pulled through in a big way for his team. He made it to the final round in both events in which he participated. In the 200-yard freestyle, Mlynarsky put up a good fight and made it into the top six (sixth place to be exact), with a time of 1:40.83. He also made it into the final round by placing 7th in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 46.48 seconds.

Although Mlynarsky was the only representative of the Viking squad in the final round on Saturday, he showed that he had what it takes by finishing in 5th place in the 200 with a slightly slower time of 1:41.10, and placing 8th in the 100 with a similar time of 46.62 seconds. His scores helped the team reach their goal. The team got exactly what they wanted by placing 20th overall.

“My goal for state was to score points at such an elite meet, and hopefully top 20 in the state” said Orlove. “So, yes, goal achieved.”