Every year the Evanston Invitational is seen as a prelude to state. For 41 years, the invite has pitted the best teams in Illinois and Wisconsin for a preview look toward the end of the season. This year would be no different. For Saint Patrick junior James Ridgeway, this invite was an opportunity to stake his claim as one of the top swimmers in the state, and he took full advantage.

Like his brother, Paul four years ago, James Ridgeway showed he is ready to take on the best in the state. In his best event, the 100-yard breaststroke, Ridgeway staked his claim as number one. In a time of 59.52, he finished first with the next fastest time by Jerry Lin of Neuqua Valley in 1:01.77. The sub one-minute time is the first this year in the state. Ridgeway also gave a strong performance in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:58.44, second to A.J. Defilippis from Arrowhead H.S. in Wisconsin. He will have to choose his two individual events for state as he also put himself in the top three in the state in the 100-yard backstroke on Thursday at Marmion Academy.

Other Shamrocks who showed strong performances at Evanston were senior Joe Przekota with a time of 1:56.46 in the 200-yard freestyle and a time of 5:19.41 in the 500-yard freestyle. The time was a fourteen second drop from his prior best this year. Freshman Dan Kalupski swam a 5:13.49 in the 500-yard freestyle, a two second drop from his best. Junior Patrick Szyska posted a time of 1:09.95, a six second drop from his best.

Earlier this week at Marmion Academy, junior Jeff Winter put up a personal best time of 1:03.68 in the 100-yard backstroke. Kalupski added a time of 2:12.07 in the 100-yard individual medley to his year’s best, while freshman Jeremy Trinchere came out of his shell by posting a year best in the 100-yard butterfly (1:06.00) and in the 100-yard backstroke (1:04.05).

The team will take the pool again on Wednesday January 11 at home against conference rival Brother Rice, and Saturday January 14 at the highly competitive Glenbrook South Relays, then Thursday January 19 at home against Benet Academy.