North’s Regovich has breakout race at Viking

In the pool is not a time for reflection — at least in the retrospective sense.

It can be a place for reflection with its illuminating meaning, though, if the performance merits.

Dec. 9 at the Viking Invitational — the spotlight event it can be — Brian Regovich took full advantage with a swim that will have him beaming well into the new calendar year.

The North senior was second in 500-yard freestyle at Cleveland State with a time of 4 minutes, 52.24 seconds.

There was no catching Brecksville-Broadview Heights’ Eric Chimes, who went out early en route to a dominant 4:41.24.

But for Regovich, a runner-up spot at the tradition-rich Viking will go a long way in what may have been the best swim of his high school career to date. Regovich joins former Rangers program staple Jared Stergar (second, 200 IM and fourth, 100 breast in 2014) as the only North swimmers to crack the top five at Viking since 1999.

“Yeah, it felt really good going into it,” Regovich said. “This morning (in preliminaries), it felt the best, too, because I had a two-second drop this morning and a two-second drop in finals. So it was definitely what I was hoping for — definitely what I’ve been working for all week.”

And, in a sense, all along.

As a freshman, Regovich was ninth at the Division I SPIRE Sectional in 500, followed by a third as a sophomore and fourth as a junior.

Last winter at SPIRE, he went 4:56.51 in 500 free, hovering around 31 on splits 7-9 into a 28.92 closing 50. At Busbey Natatorium on Dec. 9, Regovich went out in 25.02 (a .62 drop vs. sectional last year) and kept his middle splits in the high-29s to low-30s. The 4:52.24 is a 4.27 cut from sectional and 4.21 from when he was 14th at the D-I Cleveland State District less than a year ago.

“I think it’s just been some extra practices that I’ve been doing in the summer and the early fall,” Regovich said. “Getting into this high school season — not taking anything easy. Just making extra dryland and some more practice time in mornings and afternoon.

“That’s been my main focus in 500 is to work on getting (middle) splits down into 29 and just trying to hold it. So my next goal to do in the 500 will be to try going 28 and hold those.”

Since 1999, only four boys swimmers from Lake County high schools have broken into the top five at Viking. It’s a pretty good list, with Stergar, Madison’s Greg Pristov (third, 100 free in 2008), Mentor’s

Michael Dopuch (third, 100 back in 2008) — and now, with a 500 free runner-up and a fourth in 200 free (1:47.64), Regovich is in that exclusive company.

“It’s really good for me, because I definitely saw progression over the years at Viking,” Regovich said. “And this feels so similar to district and sectional, it makes me really hopeful for meets at the end of the season that I can do well there.”

On the girls side, Gilmour’s Cate O’haimhirgin is sensing a similar kind of optimism. The sophomore was second in 100 breast with a 1:06.01 and swam breast on the Lancers’ runner-up 200 medley relay (1:50.54).

On medley, O’haimhirgin recorded a 29.29 split, a massive drop from Viking (30.36) and sectional (31.26) last winter when Gilmour was ninth and second, respectively, in the event.

In 100 breast, O’haimhirgin went out with a 31.03 opener and came home in 35.03. After high-31s for her opening 50s last year at Viking and sectional, a low-31 is a nice early present amid the holiday season.

“It’s incredible for me,” O’haimhirgin said of 100 breast. “I’ve been gunning for this meet for a while now, just thinking about it and training for it. CSU is such a fast pool, and to go a time I didn’t even go at state here, it’s really good for me.

“Me and my coach John Fagan, we’ve been working on my kick a lot recently. I think my one weak point was my walls. I came up a little short on some of them. But overall, my speed in the water was much better than it was last year.”