Hinsdale Central Boys Break National High School Record in the 200 Medley Relay

Illinois High School Boys’ Swimming & Diving State Championships – Prelims

• February 28-March 1, 2025
• FMC Natatorium, Westmont, Illinois
• Short Course Yards (25 yards), Prelims/Finals
• Live Results

The FMC Natatorium in Westmont, Illinois will welcome some of the country’s best swimmers next week for a Pro Swim Series meet, but this week, the state’s best male swimmers warm things up at the Illinois High School State Championship meet. In the first event of the prelims on Friday, the boys from Hinsdale Central High School swam a new National High School Record in the 200 medley relay.

Finals start on Saturday, March 1 at 11:00AM

The team of sophomore Luke Vatev, senior Josh Bey, senior Henry Guo, and junior Matthew Vatev combined for a 1:26.75. That shaved .13 seconds off the old national public high school record in the event.

The old public school and overall mark was a 1:26.88 done in February 2022 by the famed Carmel High School in Indiana, with a relay of Sean Sullivan, Ryan Malicki, Olympian Aaron Shackell, and Christopher Holmes. Before that, Carmel also held the public school record with a 1:27.94 from 2020, which also had an Olympian, Jake Mitchell, on the relay.

Splits Comparison:

The youngest member of Hinssdale’s relay, sophomore Luke Vatev, was the hero leg, opening up the race three-tenths better than the record line. He handed it off to US Junior National Teamer Josh Bey, who extended the margin, before Guo and Vatev wrapped it up on the back half.

Bey is committed to Indiana, which scored the top five spots at the Big Ten Championships on Friday evening in Minneapolis. The back-half of the relay Guo and Matt Vatev are both committed to swim at Penn in fall 2025 and fall 2026, respectively.

The independent high school record was done in 2014 by The Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with a relay of Luke Kaliszak, Dustin Tynes, Sam McHugh, and Christian Selby.

Other Prelims Results

Hinsdale Central took control of the meet with the top seed in all three relays. Matt Vatev, Bey, Brandon Suliga, and Frankie Adamo combined for a 1:21.82 in the 200 free relay,

All four members of the Hinsdale Central record setting medley also took top seeds in individual events. Bey swam 1:46.73 in the 200 IM, putting him .28 seconds ahead of Marmion sophomore Brayden Capen (1:47.01) and later grabbed the 3rd spot in the 100 breaststroke as well (54.11) – though his lifetime best of 52.68 would make him the odds-on favorite on Saturday.

The sophomore Luke Vatev swam 43.50 in the 100 free and 46.52 in the 100 back, which even at 15-years old rank him 16th and 7th all-time in the 15-16 age group, respectively. His previous best times were 43.93 in the 100 free and 46.87 in the 100 back.

His older brother Matthew Vatev led the field in the 100 breaststroke (53.85) and was 3rd in the 200 IM behind Bey. Thaat 100 breast time took .66 seconds off his previous best from Winter Juniors just three months ago.

Guo was the top qualifier in the 100 fly in 47.15.

Other top prelims performers included Biko Hooper Haviland from St. Ignatius, who topped the heats in both the 200 free (1:37.05) and 500 free (4:24.95).

The Purdue commit didn’t break 5 minutes in the 500 free until midway through his sophomore season of high school, and has gone 4:48, 4:29, and 4:23 (in December at Winter Juniors) in the three seasons since.

New Trier’s Stuart Timmerman leads a tight 50 free field that saw the top 8 spread by only .38 seconds. He swam 20.41, and junior Aidan Kaplan qualified 2nd in 20.42. Timmerman was also the second seed in the 100 breaststroke.