Thomson doubles his pleasure at state meet

Hinsdale Central has produced a long list of outstanding swimmers.

It’s time to add Danny Thomson’s name to the list.

The junior vaulted himself into the ranks of the elite swimmers in Illinois by winning two more championships at the state finals Saturday in Winnetka.

Thomson, who surprised the swimming world by winning the 500-yard freestyle state title last season, proved it was no fluke and as he successfully defended his crown and carted off a gold medal in the 200 freestyle for good measure. Not many people can say they’ve won three state titles and Thomson has one more year to add to his legacy.

“It’s really a great feeling, just the support I have from everyone,” Thomson said. “This morning I had people help me re-shave my head. Some people in the stands gave me water after the medley [relay]. I’m really glad to have a team like that.”

Thomson gave the sellout crowd at New Trier plenty to cheer about, starting in Friday’s preliminary round, where he clocked the best times in the 200 (1:38.84) and the 500 (4:21.43). The latter smashed the state record by more than three seconds and returned the mark to Hinsdale Central, where it had resided for over two decades.

Hinsdale Central’s Brian Gunn, who won the event three straight years, had held the mark for 21 years before Downers Grove North’s Burke Sims broke it with a 4:24.74 in 2009.

“I’m just really glad that I got it,” Thomson said. “It’s really exciting and it was just a great race. Late last year I went 4:23 at a different meet, but you can only get the record at the state meet, so it was a bit of goal for me to get the record.”

Hinsdale Central coach Corky King, who calls Thomson the best swimmer he has coached in his 35-year career, the last 12 of which have been at Central, wasn’t shocked by Thomson’s accomplishment.

“Not too much surprises me about Danny,” King said. “He’s a phenomenal kid. We actually were kind of upset when Burk broke [the record] because we thought we could go from Brian Gunn to Danny some day but then Burke kind of messed our plans up. We knew [Thomson] was capable of that.”

But the best was still to come. Most swimmers go slower during Saturday’s finals than they do in the prelims because of fatigue, but Thomson actually dropped time in both races to record personal bests.

Thomson first captured the 200 in 1:37.56, two seconds faster than runner-up John Williamson of Normal U-High. Last year, Thomson finished fifth in the 200 individual medley but opted to switch to the free.

“It’s a great feeling,” Thomson said. “I switched events this year and I wasn’t sure how it was going to go because I never really swam the 200 competitively when it really counted. It was a little bit of a gamble but it paid off in the end.”

After swimming seven seconds faster than second-seeded CJ Smith of New Trier in the prelims of the 500, Thomson won even more easily, again breaking the record, this time clocking 4:21.04, nearly eight seconds faster than Smith, who took second. Despite the large margin of victory, it was actually the fastest 500 race ever as for the first time four swimmers broke 4:30.

“I was just hoping to swim my race all out and go as fast as I possibly could, so I did and I’m really happy,” Thomson said. “I’m really going to enjoy this.”

“We actually talked about that at the start of the week, that you want to save your best for last,” King said. “Last year he went slower in finals, so we wanted to overcome that. We want him to be a gamer and he did it. Today he just said ‘I’m going for it.’”

Thomson’s starring role helped Hinsdale Central to 10th place in the team standings with 40 points. The Red Devils also scored points in the 200 medley relay as senior Ben Marsh, Thomson and seniors C.J. Van Wormer and Max Morimoto placed ninth in 1:36.65.

In Friday’s prelims, the 400 free relay squad of Van Wormer, senior Mike DeSalle, Morimoto and Thomson finished 15th in 3:12.04. Morimoto took 18th in the 100 free (47.68), senior Kyle Frederickson placed 22nd in the 100 breaststroke (1:00.29) and sophomore Ryan O’Donnell tied for 26th in diving with 175.55 points.