EVANSTON – As long as Plainfield co-op senior swimmer Ryan Netzel successfully completes his two events in Saturday's championship finals of the IHSA swimming and diving finals, he'll place himself in a lofty position among area competitors in the sport.

Two more individual medals will give him seven for his four-year career, which includes four in the 500 freestyle and three in the 200 freestyle. Five of his medals will have been earned in the championship division (top-six preliminaries times).

In Friday's preliminaries, he was fourth in the 500 freestyle (4:29.79) and sixth in the 200 freestyle (1:39.47). His total of eight medals overall will rank him second to Lincoln-Way East's and North's Kyler VanSwol, who won 11 medals from 2007-2010.

VanSwol also won seven medals in individual events and would join Netzel as the only two area swimmers to medal for four-straight years in individual events. Lincoln-Way East's Kevin Kubik also captured six medals over the course of four years from 2006-2009.

Netzel and his teammates just missed being in a position to earn another medal. In the 400 freestyle relay, sophomore Alex Dvorak, sophomore Marc Avery, Netzel and junior Ryan Crafton were 13th (3:10.78), just :0.01 behind the 12th and final qualifier, Naperville Central.

Lincoln-Way East advanced two individuals to the finals, one in each division. Sophomore Mason Rhode was fourth in the 200 IM (1:53.5) while junior Bryce Wyma was ninth in the 50 freestyle (:21.16). This would be the initial medal won by the two Griffins and the fifth-straight year that the program has had an all-stater.

Coming up one position short of qualifying in the 200 IM was Lockport junior Jack O'Connor (1:55.07, 13th). He also finished in the top-20 in the 100 backstroke (:52.3, 20th).

Plainfield's Dvorak also fell a bit short in the 200 IM (1:55.39, 16th) and the 100 freestyle (:47.5, 17th) while Lincoln-Way Central freshman Joe Bozzi came up a little shy in the 500 freestyle (4:41.54, 16th).

Lincoln-Way East's 200 medley relay of Wyma, senior Dante Smith, Rhode and senior Kellen Bachler (1:36.73) was 18th.

Others who finished among the top 30 were Lemont senior Owen Ganzer in the 100 freestyle (:47.9, 24th), Plainfield's Avery in the 50 freestyle (:21.72, 22nd) and Lincoln-Way East's Wyma in the 100 backstroke (:52.72, 24th) and Rhode in the 100 butterfly (:51.66, 26th).

Relays that also posted top-30 preliminary times were Plainfield's Dvorak, Crafton, junior Merek Avery and Netzel in the 200 freestyle relay (1:27.86, 24th) and East's Wyma, Rhode, senior Colin Brady and senior Trevor Horn in the 400 freestyle relay (3:15.88, 24th).