Record day for Riley swimmers

Louis Cavadini and the Riley swimmers are all business -- even when they can afford to relax.

Cavadini, a junior, helped set four South Bend City Meet records to lead a talented and well-balanced Riley swim team to an unprecedented sweep of the city meet Saturday at the Riley pool.

The 'Cats took all 12 meet events -- a meet first -- in racking up 479 points to win their 13th consecutive City Meet. Adams was a distant second with 245 points, followed by Clay at 242.

Riley won all but one event in 1993.

Cavadini got the Wildcats started on a record-setting binge in the 50 freestyle when he lowered former St. Joseph's freestyler David Tweedie's record from 22.02 to 21.20.

In the process, Cavadini also set new school and pool records, the latter record belonging to recent state 50 freestyle record-holder, Mike Stoller of Bremen.

"The coach (Riley coach John Van Driessche) told me I had a good chance to get the record," said Cavadini. "I've been working a lot on my starts. I think that helped me to break it (Tweedie's record)."

Cavadini already held a state-qualifying seed time of 21.55 when he entered the meet.

Observers around pool side also predicted Cavadini could break the 100 backstroke record of 54.93 set by Riley's former outstanding backstroker, Will Bernhardt, in 1995.

Even though he struggled slightly going into his final turn, Cavadini was unchallenged as he sprinted to the finish with a new city backstroke mark of 54.86.

Cavadini also sandwiched his backstroke record between swimming anchor legs on Riley's record-breaking 200 and 400 free relays.

Cavadini shared honors as a quadruple winner with team co-captain, senior Mark DuBois, brother, David, a freshman, and junior Brian Johnson.

DuBois, who has won at least one city title in a variety of events since his freshman year, easily took the 200 individual medley and 100 butterfly, while David Cavadini fought off a challenge from Clay's Steve Killelea in the 100 freestyle after dominating the field in the 200 freestyle.

Johnson, another of Van Driessche's strong versatile swimmers, started off the winning 200 medley relay. After winning the 500 freestyle, Johnson jumped back into the pool with the Cavadini brothers and DuBois to break Clay's 1997 200 free relay record of 1:32.91 with a new time of 1:30.07.

Two events later, a tired but determined Johnson teamed up with the same trio in the 400 free relay to help set a new record time of 3:18.95. The old mark of 3:23.10, set in 1974, also was the last city record owned by former Jackson High School under Dave Dunlap.

"I tired a little in the 400, but my teammates picked it up," Johnson said.

"Our relays are a lot faster this year," said DuBois. "We've swum 1:29 in the 200 (free relay) already. We knew we could get it, but, the 400 free was the record the coach wanted."

The team's record-breaking performances also did not surprise Van Driessche who believes the group should go even faster as the season winds down.

"I was pleased with our team's overall performances, but Chris Denton (a junior) and Danilo Rodriguez (a sophomore diver) were outstanding today," said Van Driessche.

Denton dropped almost nine seconds to take a second in the 200 individual medley (2:09.79) and more than four seconds to finish fourth in the 100 backstroke.

"This is only his second year on the team," Van Driessche said.

Rodriguez won the diving event in a sparse field of three divers with a score of 403.20, his highest 11-dive total of the season. Riley sophomore Andrew Wray also became a first time city champ in winning the breaststroke in 1:03.32. Killelea was the Colonials' top performer in taking seconds in the 50 and 100 freestyle with his best times of the season.

After sitting in third place trailing Clay through most of the meet, Adams' depth of swimmers took third and seventh in the 400 free relay to edge the Colonials for second place by three points.

SUMMARY

Team Scores: 1. Riley 479, 2. Adams 245, 3. Clay 242, Washington 185, St. Joseph's 99, LaSalle 73

200 medley relay: 1. Riley (Brian Johnson, Andrew Wray, Christopher Noonan, Christopher Denton) 1:45.45, 2. Clay A 1:51.83, 3. Riley B 1:57.57, 4. St. Joseph's 1:54.84, 5. Adams A 2:00.51, 6. LaSalle 2:06.20.

200 freestyle: 1. David Cavadini (Riley) 1:49.16, 2. Sam Neher (Adams)

1:59.12, 3. Matt Ciesielski (Washington) 2:03.83, 4. Michael Cwidak-Kusbach (Adams) 2:07.91, 5. Evan Dickerson (Adams) 2:08.40, 6. David Waddy (Riley) 2:09.06.

200 individual medley: 1. Mark DuBois (Riley) 2:05.39, 2. Christopher Denton (Riley) 2:09.79, 3. David O'Tousa (Clay) 2:10.01, 4. Ryan Rafferty (Clay) 2:16.78, 5. Christopher Noonan (Riley) 2:17.55, 6. Ken Nurenberg (Washington) 2:24.66.

50 freestyle: 1. Louis Cavadini (Riley) 21.20 (new City Meet record breaking mark of 22.02. set by David Tweedie of St. Joseph's in 1995), 2. Steve Killelea (Clay) 23.34, 3. Ryan Bilinski (Washington) 24.55, 4. Luke Snell (Clay) 24.81, 5. Josh Blanton (Adams) 24.92, 6. Jeremy Bruntz (LaSalle) 25.19.

1 meter diving: 1. Danilo Rodriguez (Riley) 403.20, 2. Matthew Magliozzi (Adams) 294.70, 3. Ryan Barnbrook (Clay) 223.35.

100 butterfly: 1. Mark DuBois (Riley) 56.25, 2. Andrew Wray (Riley) 1:01.13, 3. Mikiel DeGuara (St. Joe) 1:04.75, 4. Ken Nurenberg1:04.94, 5. Ryan Winet (St. Joe) 1:04.95, 6. Eric Doolittle (Clay) 1:08.12.

100 freestyle: 1. David Cavadini (Riley) 49.97, 2. Steve Killelea (Clay) 51.76, 3. Kevin Blue (Riley) 53.84, 4. Christopher Noonan (Riley) 54.44, 5. Matt Blower (Riley) 55.95, 6. Michael Cwidak-Kusbach (Adams) 56.81.

500 freestyle: 1. Brian Johnson (Riley) 4:59.37, 2. David O'Tousa (Clay) 5.17.13, 3. Sam Neher (Adams) 5:26.07, 4. Nick Henry (Riley) 5:36.43, 5. David Waddy (Riley) 5:44.68, 6. Matt Ciesielski (Washington) 5:55.36.

200 freestyle relay: 1. Riley A (Mark DuBois, David Cavadini, Brian Johnson, Louis Cavadini) 1:30.07 (new City Meet record breaking mark of 1:32.91 set by Nelson, Apple, Timm and Turner of Clay in 1997), 2. Clay A 1:36.91, 3. Riley B 1:39.79, 4. Washington A 1:41.95, 5. Adams A 1:42.45, 6. LaSalle A 1:49.91.

100 backstroke: 1. Louis Cavadini (Riley) 54.86 (new City Meet record breaking mark of 54.93 set by Will Bernhardt of Riley in 1995), 2. Kevin Blue (Riley) 1:00.95, 3. Ryan Rafferty (Clay) 1:01.24, 4. Christopher Denton (Riley) 1:04.61, 5. Robby Staton (Washington) 1:05.19, 6. Steven Jarrett (St. Joe) 1:06.27.

100 breaststroke: 1. Andrew Wray (Riley) 1:03.32, 2. Ryan Bilinski (Washington) 1:10.45, 3. Peter Schlifki (Riley) 1:12.01, 4. Colin Cybulski (Riley) 1:15.47, 5. Brian Laskowski (Washington) 1:15.65, 6. Ryan Leszczynski (Washington) 1:17.83.

400 free relay: 1. Riley A (Mark DuBois, David Cavadini, Brian Johnson, Louis Cavadini) 3:18.95 (new City Meet record breaking old mark of 3:23.10 set by Hurgus, Weisser, Rosenbaum and Petty of former Jackson High School in 1974), 2. Riley B 3:40.24, 3. Adams A 3:49.25, 4. Washington A, 3:50.03, 5. Clay A 3:57.33, 6. St. Joseph's A 3:57.95.