Oak Lawn, IL (February 2, 2013) - On Saturday, the Varsity team won the SSC Red Conference championship at Oak Lawn High School by narrowly overcoming a deeper, favored Shepard Astros squad. This victory marks the third Varsity championship in school history (2007, 2011, 2013). With a gritty performance on Friday night, Cody Karanosky began the scoring by winning the championship in the 11 dive competition. Jose Peralta also contributed a point with a twelfth place finish. On Saturday, the 200 medley relay (1:50.00) of Matt Blicharski, Jakub Mysliwiec, Matt Tylka, and Stan Baraniak overcame a fourth seed to win the championship in one of the most exciting events in recent memory. The medley relay set the tone for good things to come. Blicharski followed with a 1st place victory in the 200 freestyle while Steven Forsythe scored 2 points with a finish that dropped his personal best time to 2:13.41. Mysliwiec won his first individual conference championship in the 200 IM with a 2:13.96 and Tony Brcic took home the 3rd place medal with a 2:17.33. The 50 freestyle saw Baraniak (6th, 24.99) and M. Tylka (4th, 24.15) set season best times. M. Tylka followed the 50 with one of the most impressive swims of the meet, a Conference championship in the 100 butterfly with a 57.94. Not to be outdone by his big brother, Dan Tylka earned important points with a season-best 1:04.69 fifth place finish. In the 100 yard freestyle, Baraniak (6th) swam an awesome 55.24 while Marcin Ciszek followed suit with a 57.37. The 500 yard freestyle saw Blicharski (5:12.48) win his third consecutive championship, besting the second place finisher by a whopping 21 seconds! Braulio “Let’s Have a Good Day This Year” Castellanos brawled his way to a 6:03.03 finish and seven points. In an event marked by sloppy swims by opponents, the 200 free relay of Brcic, Ciszek, Tylka, and Mysliwiec took home the bronze medal. Ciszek and D. Tylka maintained their seeds in the 100 backstroke which set the stage for the knock-out punch of the meet delivered by Brcic and Mysliwiec. Tony Brcic brought home the Conference championship in the 100 breaststroke with a 1:08.86 and Mysliwiec took home the silver medal as the Rams were on the cusp of victory. The fourth-seeded 400 free relay of M. Tylka, Brcic, Baraniak, and Blicharski had too much momentum for the competition as they put the exclamation point on the victory by winning the championship with a 3:37.19. With senior leaders David Arce and Eyad Zeid hoisting the championship trophy, the Rams completed the memorable afternoon. Congratulations, gentlemen. You deserved this one.