Boys swimming: Gardner leads Munster to 22nd straight NCC title

• Reprints

Updated: March 1, 2012 8:32AM

MUNSTER — The next great Munster swimmer is a freshman whose talents in the pool helped the Mustangs win yet another conference championship Saturday. He also runs a pretty mean car pool.

“Joey is a great kid and he does the right things,” said Munster coach Matt Pavlovich. “He helps his teammates out and gives them rides to the practices. He had a great meet.”

Indeed Joey Gardner was behind the wheel of the Munster juggernaut that won its 22nd straight conference title, taking the Northwest Crossroads crown with 406 points, with Highland coming in second with 353. Kankakee Valley took third with 163, followed by Lowell with 139, Griffith with 109.50 and Hobart with 86.50.

Then again, you can’t be this good a team and only have one “next great” on your roster. The Mustangs actually had two freshmen turn in multiple wins with Gardner taking the 200 freestyle, 200 IM, and the 200 freestyle relay and Wilson Beckman finishing first in the 100 backstroke and 200 medley relay.

“I think we stepped up today and across the board our kids had a lot of best times,” Pavlovich said. “Our freshmen and seniors led the way for us and our sophomores and juniors filled in some holes and gaps for us. We had a tough dual meet against Chesterton on Thursday, so I’m pleased with what we did because we knew Highland would be a tough match for us.”

True enough, even though the Trojans came in second to Munster again, Highland coach Ryan Harrington was very happy with his team’s peformance. Three Trojans set school records and two set conference bests.

“Overall I’m excited about the way we swam today,” Harrington said. “Our kids were really focused on this conference meet and we came out and swam very fast.”

Two Trojans swam faster than everyone else, with Stephan Castillo (200 free, 100 butterfly) and Adam Johnston (50 and 100 free)picking up two individual wins while also helping the 400 freestyle relay team cross the finish line first.

But the conference meet belonged to Munster. Again. And it was a freshman who helped seal the deal.

“I got good times in both of my races and I’m happy with the way I swam,” Gardner said. “It’s important for us to win conference and it’s a lot of hard work but we do it as a team.”

Kyle Rucker won the 500 free for Munster while helping the 200 free relay team finish first.

The diving gold went to teammate Sean Cloghessy.