The Saint Patrick swim team qualified for the state meet in six events, and broke five school records, at the Fenwick Sectional on Feb. 18
Seniors Mark Auger and Dan Galante each won two individual championships at the sectional, etching their names into the Shamrocks record book along the way.
Galante won the 200-yard freestyle in 1 minute, 40.32, breaking Derick Carlson’s ’10 record of 1:42.35. Galante also set a new school record in the 500 free (4:32.44) breaking Joe Gibson’s record of 4:36.
Auger won the 50 free in 21.53 seconds and the 100 butterfly in a school record 50.88, breaking Joe Gibson’s ’16 record of 51.35.
That duo teamed up with senior Ezra Andrews and sophomore Robert Hernandez to take first place in the 200 and 400 free relays and qualify for the state meet.
In the 200 free relay, the four Shamrocks swam a winning time of 1:26.58 and broke the school record of 1:27.44 set in 2002 by Paul Ridgeway, Kamil Kulczycki, Damian Kulczycki and Roberto Jorda-cid.
The same four Shamrocks won the 400 free relay in a school record time of 3:11.08 (old record by Ridgway, K. Kulczycki, D. Kulczycki and R. Jorda-Cid). The swimmers dropped nine seconds from their 3:20.74 seed time to accomplish the feat.
The state meet is on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 24-25, at New Trier.
