Neuqua puts it all together
Once again the Neuqua Valley’s swimming team’s high-quality depth prevailed.
The Wildcats won all three relays and seven individual races to easily outscore the opposition in Saturday’s West Chicago Wildcats Invite with 309 points to second-place Lyons Twp.’s 214.
Waubonsie Valley was third with 189, followed by Rosary with 164.5, Metea Valley with 153.5 and host West Chicago with 139.
Rosary was swimming without many of its returning seniors from last year’s third-place state team, away on college visits.
“This was a good trial to see where we are in terms of training at this point of the season,” said Neuqua Valley coach Brandon King. “I’m proud of our team because they’re all tired, but they were here to race.”
“We really showed our strength today,” said Megan Childs, who won the 100 freestyle and the 100 breaststroke and swam on both the 200 and 400 free relays. “Because we had a rough dry-land practice this morning and we were able to push through the pain.”
Childs believes that this could be a really special Neuqua team.
“Two years ago we went to state with a very young team,” she said. “Now those freshman and sophomores are juniors and seniors and we’re motivated to shine at state. We have strong swimmers in almost every event.”
Junior Gia Dalesandro won both the 100 butterfly and the 100 backstroke and also swam on the winning 200 medley and 400 freestyle relay teams.
Other Wildcats who swam to victory on Saturday were: Brooke Bedford in the 200 freestyle; Courtney Taylor in the 200 IM; and the fast-improving Tara Blanzy in the 50 freestyle.
“Tara was has made huge strides this year,” King said. “She just wants to win. She swam JV last year and this year she’s gone from not making sets to leading a lane at practice and she’s one of the top sprinters on varsity. That is highly unusual.”
“I’ve been training hard this year and that’s helped,” Blanzy said. “The team spirit has really motivated me. We had a rough training session this morning, but that’s OK because our slogan is ‘hurtin for certain.’”
King is happy with the way the girls stepped up in the three relays.
“That means a lot to me,” King said. “Because it means you’re there for the team rather than just for yourself. And those team players motivate me and they motivate the other girls because everyone knows the top swimmers are there for the team.
The only race the Wildcats didn’t win was the 500 freestyle. In that event Lyons Twp. swept the first three places with Jennifer Weigand taking the victory.
Among the second-place finishers at West Chicago were: the Waubonsie Valley 200 medley relay team; West Chicago’s Maya Skorupski in the 50 freestyle and the 100 backstroke; Bedford in the 100 butterfly; Waubonsie Valley’s Maddie Hunt in the 100 freestyle; and Neuqua’s Eileen Skowronski in the 100 breaststroke.