By Randy Whalen

The Joliet Township boys' swimming team is looking for the finishing kick. 

While the team might not have as many members as in years past, with only 15 on this season's squad, they have a lot of heart. 

As the postseason approaches, Joliet plans to make a splash. 

As the regular season wound down, the team had people do just that. During a busy stretch, there were some nice performances. 

Take the Steve Allen Invitational at Lockport Township for example. While Joliet Township was in the middle of the pack, placing eighth out of 14 teams on Saturday, January 25, the team had some good finishes. Especially from senior Elliot Martillo, who won the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 54.67 seconds and was on the 200-yard free and the 400-yard freestyle relays, which both placed seventh.

"It was an amazing feeling," Martillo said of winning the 100-fly. "I was proud of myself and very happy to make the coaches happy. I felt very good about my improvement."

Martillo missed making the Illinois High School Association State Finals in the butterfly by less than a second last year. He was also on the 400-yard freestyle relay, Joliet missed making state by just over three seconds. 

Fellow senior Ben Clark went to state in two events last season. Those were the 500-yard freestyle and 200-yard individual medley.

At the Steve Allen Invite, Clark placed fourth in the 200 IM (2:09.23), tied for fifth in the 100-yard freestyle (50.74 seconds), and was on both the 200 free and 400 free relays. 

Also, senior Nate Butt placed eighth in the 500-yard freestyle (5:25.43) and was on the 200 free relay. Junior Marco Rodriguez was on both the 200 free and 400 free relays. Freshman Ben Jensen was also on in the 400 free relay.

In the 200-yard freestyle relay, it was Clark, Rodriquez, Butt, and Martello, finishing in a time of 1:38.33. The order on the 400-yard freestyle relay was Clark, Jensen, Rodriquez, and Martello, who had a time of 3:34.66. 

The team standings at the invite were Plainfield Co-op (388) Wheaton North (339), and Saint Ignatius College Prep (320) being the top three. Lincoln-Way Central (261.5) Lockport (227), Lincoln-Way West (225), Hinsdale South (130) Joliet Township (119.5),  Reavis (102), Stagg (97), Bartlett (72), South Elgin (17), Homewood-Flossmoor (14), and Joliet Catholic Academy (13).

"We got second at the Cardinal Relays earlier this season," Joliet Township coach Nick Koenig said of the relay invite on December 14. "Ben Clark has gone to state and is a favorite in the IM and Elliot Martillo has committed to Augustana College. 

"We've got 15 guys total on the team, so there's not a lot of depth. But we have some really strong senior swimmers. We have six seniors and they were honored on Senior Night (on Thursday, January 23 against Riverside-Brookfield at Inwood). The parents did a great job with the Senior Night."

The six seniors are Butt, Clark, Zach Jenkins, Martillo, Jose Nolasco, and Jimmy Sanchez.

"Senior Night was amazing," Martillo said. "We have six very hard-working seniors and it was awesome to see all the family support."

Last week was busy for Joliet. On Tuesday, January 28, the team was back at Lockport for a triangular meeting with Bolingbrook and the host Porters. Joliet placed second overall and won the 200-yard medley relay as Jensen, Martillo, Clark, and Craven had a first-place time of 1:49.05. Clark won the 100-yard IM with a time of 52.67 seconds.  

On Thursday, January 30, Joliet competed in a dual meet against West Aurora at Illinois Math and Science Academy. Two days later, on Saturday, February 1, Joliet traveled for another invite. This one was the West Chicago Winter Splash, and the team did very well, finishing second behind Wheaton Co-op (276) with 211 points. 

Clark (2:10.56) won the 200-yard IM by over a second and was second (5:11.37) in the 500-yard freestyle. Martillo captured the 100-yard butterfly (54.80 seconds) by over five seconds and was second (1:00.26) in the 100-yard backstroke. Craven (1:57.71) was second in the 200-yard freestyle, only .3 tenths of a second out of first. 

In a great race, Joliet (1:36.08) edged Wheaton by .07 hundredth of a second to win the 200-yard freestyle relay. The foursome was Martillo, Craven, Butt, and Clark. In the 200-yard medley relay, Jensen, Martillo, Clark, and Craven finished in 1:52.28 to place third. The Joliet 400-yard freestyle relay was disqualified or the team would have had even more points.

The Southwest Prairie Conference meet is this Saturday, February 8 at Oswego East. Joliet Township will be back at Lockport on Saturday, February 22 for the sectional. The State Finals will held on Friday, February 28, and Saturday, March. 1 at FMC Natatorium, in Westmont.

Clark has been to state every season and plans to be back again this season. Martillo plans to join him.

"I've been on the varsity for four seasons and it's crazy how fast the time goes," Martillo said. "But I just have fun. I want to make All-Conference and with effort and consistency, I want to make it to state in the 100 fly and possibly a relay."