Michael Wright wasn’t going to let his last Shamrock Relays go to waste. Teaming up with junior Kevin Nitsche, a combined score of 691.45 was all it took to hold off Niles West for the second consecutive year to win the diving event. Niles West finished second with 630.50. The Shamrocks broke the school record, which they set just last year, by over a hundred points. Wright finished with an individual score of 535.40, reaching the All-American qualifying score. “Michael and Kevin looked good today. It was important for Michael to leave a mark on his final relays,” stated Coach Michael Fosco. “Together Michael and Kevin make a great team. They will both be hard to beat down the road.”

Diving set the tone of the meet while the swimmers took the water against a loaded field. Benet Academy and St. Ignatius lead the way taking first and second followed up by the Shamrocks in third. Maine South took fourth, followed by Niles West and Latin. “We looked good, today,” said Coach Marty Gibson. “Both Benet Academy and St. Ignatius are strong state teams and have many club kids coming in every year.”

Ridgeway paced the Shamrocks with a first place finish in the junior 50-yard freestyle with a time of: 23.14. Other fine performances were handed in by Jeremy Trinchere in the freshman 50-yard freestyle with a time of: 26.16 (2nd), and senior Joe Przekota who turned in a third place finish in the senior 50-yard freestyle with a time of: 24.71. Junior Jeff Winter and James Ridgeway finished second in the varsity Round-N-Round with a time of 2:37.30 being out touched by St. Ignatius by a half a second. “This is a hard meet for our team. We’re not as deep as other teams but the more the team comes together now, the harder they will be to beat at the end of the season,” said Coach Gibson.