Community won a third-straight Big 12 Conference title on Saturday, Feb. 3. They head into the swim postseason looking to build on their late-season success. Photo Courtesy of: Mrs. Heather Budak

The boys swim team, after clinching a fourth-straight Intercity title and a third Big 12 championship in as many years, looks poised to compete for a historic third-consecutive Sectional title when Community heads to the Pekin Swimming and Diving Sectional on Feb. 17. 

Fueling the team’s late-season success are last season’s State qualifiers, Kenneth Wills, Josh Svob, Sam Grojean and Wade Pyle, coupled with the contributions of sophomores Logan Goss and Ethan Arndt and senior Caleb Vogel.

The Ironmen took home first-place honors at Jan. 23’s Intercity meet, winning all but one of the 11 events the team competed in. 

Community won seven individual events and swept the relays to outscore runners-up Normal West 537 to 476. The U-High Pioneers took third with 438 points.

Five Ironmen would top the podium in the Intercity meet, with Pyle and Goss celebrating two individual wins apiece. 

Pyle earned first-place honors in the 50 freestyle (22.32) and the 100 (48.69), while Goss took home wins in the 200 freestyle (1:54.14) and the 100 backstroke (56.03).

Wills added an individual victory in the 200 individual medley (1:59.68), with Svob touching the wall first in the 100 butterfly (56.01) and Arndt taking the 500 freestyle (5:07.12).

Goss and Pyle would each add two relay wins to their list of accomplishments by the end of the meet. 

The team of Goss, Grojean, Wills and Vogel earned a win in the 200 medley (1:43.46), while the lineup of Goss, Pyle, Wills, and Vogel won the 400 free (3:23.92).

Wills’s third relay victory came in the 200 free, winning with Pyle, Svob and Grojean (1:30.99).

In the 100 breaststroke, the lone race in which the Iron didn’t top the podium, Community finished second and third, with Svob clocking in at 1:03.85 and Grojean finishing at 1:04.38.  

The team’s Intercity success carried into Feb. 3’s Big 12 Conference meet as the Ironmen tallied 281 points on the way to a conference title three-peat. Champaign Central finished the meet second (239), with the Normal West Wildcats taking third (207).

Again, Community would sweep the relays. 

The 200 medley team of Goss, Grojean, Svob and Pyle posted a 1:41.29 finish, over a two-second improvement from Community’s time the week prior. 

In the 200 free, Arndt, Grojean, Goss and Wills celebrated a 1:33.66 win. 

The Iron would see another improvement in the 400 free, as Pyle, Wills, Vogel and Svob shaved over three seconds off Community’s Intercity time to finish at 3:20.67.

In the individual events, Wills and Pyle each earned two top-finishes. 

Pyle again took the 50 and 100 freestyles, finishing in 22.06 and 48.21, respectively, improving his times in both events. 

Wills took the 200 freestyle, clocking in at 1:46.63, and the 500 free (4:52.48). Arndt took second in the 500 with a 5:08.6 finish.  

Svob earned an individual victory in the 100 breaststroke, edging out the competition with a 1:02.43 finish. 

With 10 days until Sectionals, the Ironmen’s focus at practice now is tapering, preparing physically and mentally for that meet… and a shot at State.