O’Toole goes the distance
By GEORGE M. WILCOX gwilcox@pioneerlocal.com January 10, 2012 7:16PM
Hinsdale South's Kedrick Shin competes in the 400-yard individual medley, during the Hinsdale South College Events Swim Meet. | Steve Johnston~for Sun-Times Media
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Updated: March 12, 2012 1:16AM
Ryan O’Toole was looking forward to a long rest after competing in Saturday’s 44th annual College Events meet at Hinsdale South.
O’Toole, a junior from Burr Ridge, is the top long-distance swimmer for the Hornets. The College Events meet lives up to its name, challenging high school swimmers to compete at college-level distances, often double the amount typically seen at a high school meet.
In Saturday’s meet, one swimmer tried to compete in the 200-yard butterfly for the first time, but could not finish the race.
O’Toole, a freestyler, only had one stroke to worry about, but swam longer than a mile in the meet for a combined distance of 1,700 yards in three events.
O’Toole was third in the 1,000 freestyle behind defending 500 freestyle state champion Danny Thomson of Hinsdale Central and runner-up Nathan Morris of Waubonsie Valley. O’Toole placed sixth in the 500 free and swam an additional 200 yards in the Hornets’ eighth-place 800 freestyle relay with freshmen Jason Yang and Kedrick Shin and junior Kyler Shin.
Hinsdale South (71 points) finished ninth in the 12-team meet.
“Distance is better for me than sprints,” O’Toole said. “It’s my specialty. It was exciting to swim in the 1,000.”
Because of the long distances, the meet held its heats for the 1,000 free in the morning after the diving was completed. The meet takes a break of about 45 minutes before continuing with the rest of the events. The first event after the break is the 400 medley relay.
The Hornets placed 10th in that event with Yang, Michael Benedict, Kedrick Shin and Nathan Onchuck.
The College Events meet challenges O’Toole and many of his other teammates, particularly senior captains such as Benedict and Onchuck. An annual tradition for the Hornets is to swim nearly a mile — 1,650 yards — in a single day over the winter break.
This year’s “Holiday Mile” was held Dec. 30. O’Toole said he completed the distance in 17:56, the sixth fastest time in school history. Nearly 20 members of the team competed in the event, even swimmers from the JV team.
“It’s a team tradition as long as I can remember,” O’Toole said. “There are some records from the 1970s.”
No one else at Hinsdale South swam longer than O’Toole has, a little more than two miles in more than a week when you combine the Holiday Mile with the College Events meet.
“It’s the only time I’ll swim (that distance this season),” O’Toole said. “It’s a lot harder than any other different meet.”
The Hornets have already claimed dual-meet wins over Downers Grove South, Addison Trail and Willowbrook. Hinsdale South hopes to sweep the rest of the West Suburban Conference Gold Division with meets at Leyden Jan. 12 and at home against Morton Jan. 27. The conference meet is at Downers South Feb. 4.
The Hornets compete in the Sandburg Invitational at 11 a.m. Saturday while divers Nicolas Milovanovic and Riley Maher headed to the Hinsdale Central Invitational at 8:30 a.m. Saturday.
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