Glenbrook North, South Swimmers To Face Off, 40 Years Later
GLENVIEW, Ill. (CBS) -- It's score-settling time Friday night at the Glenbrook South High School swimming pool.
As WBBM Newsradio's Bernie Tafoya reports, men who were in high school 40 years ago will get a chance Friday night to show which swim team was the better – Glenbrook South or Glenbrook North.
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The reason for the question mark is that Glenbrook North won the swim meet between the two teams in 1971, but on a technicality. A timer for Glenbrook South had been tossed into the water after South had touched out North for the win in the final and deciding relay event.
But there were still swimmers in the water — the schools' "B" teams — and that meant the race wasn't officially over. Because of that, the relay team from Glenbrook South was disqualified on that event, and that gave the win for the meet to Glenbrook North.
Jeff Reene swam for Glenbrook North back then and says, "If the meet (tonight) is half as good as the trash talking, it'll be well worth it."
Mike Boothe swam for GBS in 1971 and says that if you won a close meet back then, "it was sort of traditional to push in a timer".
Boothe says he's looking forward to the rematch.
The old-timers meet Friday night follows the traditional dual meet between the current Glenbrook North and South swim teams. Two events are scheduled, and if need be, there'll be a tie-breaking swim event.
Boothe says many of the swimmers from both of those teams in the 1970s became friends because they attended the University of Illinois together and swam for Illinois.
