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Neuqua Valley continues the process

From winning the meet-opening 200-yard medley relay through the post-competition trophy presentation, Neuqua Valley's girls swim team was dominant at Saturday's 15th annual St. Charles North Invitational.

The Wildcats won two further events — the 200 freestyle relay and Amanda Brockmeier's success in the 100 breaststroke. They also piled up points in an meet that allows teams to enter four swimmers per event and that rewards depth. Overall, Neuqua Valley scored a 199-183 victory over the second-place host school.

“We did everything we need to right now, which is to continue to fight and focus on the process involved,” Neuqua Valley coach Jason Niforatos said.

The Wildcats scored their meet triumph without specifically focusing on the meet. Training for the November championship meets remains the goal, though finishing first in a field such as that on-display at St. Charles North was pleasing to the Wildcats.

“We could have thrown up some really good times,” Niforatos said. “The thought coming in was to focus on the process and to learn to fight and work within the process. This was a victory for us on a lot of levels. We wanted them to get up and race, but the way they did it meant so much more to us.”

Brockmeier finished ahead of a strong field in the breaststroke, which included Hinsdale Central freshman Emily Graham.

“Looking at the heat sheet, I said, 'Wow, she's a freshman and she's going 1:06 and I was going 1:12 last year as an average,'” Brockman said of Graham. “(Niforatos) told me going into the race to block out the expectations, and that helped me relax. When I'm relaxed, I do better.”

Ryan Dulaney contributed third-place finishes in the 200 free and the 500 free while Wyli Erlechman was third in the 100 butterfly.

Hinsdale Central finished fourth in the meet, and Graham's second-place finish in the breaststroke was the team's best result. The 200 medley relay was third.

“I love coming to this meet,” Hinsdale Central coach Bob Barber said. “As you go through the season and start positioning who are your top two girls in events and who are your top people in the relays, this meet gives an opportunity for them to help themselves.”

Metea Valley finished fifth and scored its best results in the 100 backstroke, where Jacquelyn Kurkjian finished first and Hannah Davidson was second.

“We're training really hard, so it felt good to still have a good-enough time,” Kurkjian said. “You can see how, in the future, with a little taper, that I can really improve my time. It was good to swim well, because the St. Charles North meet has a lot of really good teams in it.”

The Mustangs placed well in the sprint freestyle races. Amanda Burson was third in the 50 free and fifth in the 100 free, while Madeline Sandberg was seventh in the 50 free and sixth in the 100 free.

“We're working a lot of distance but still working on the technicalities,” Kurkjian said. “We're working on our turns and our underwater work — which is something I know I have to personally work on.”

Addison Trail-Willowbrook's Kelly McNamara won both the 50 freestyle in 24.55 and the 100 butterfly in 56.52, keying her team's eighth-place finish.

“Those are my best times in-season, ever,” McNamara said. “We're all really tired and working hard, so that's pretty good.”

McNamara was the runner-up in the butterfly at last year's state meet to Fenwick senior Mimi Schneider.

“That's my main event and my best in-season time,” McNamara said. “I did all the little things. You try to hold your technique now because you get tired and it can fall apart.”

The West Chicago-Batavia co-op finished ninth. The team's best performance was a fifth-place finish by Lindsay Bruce in the 200 freestyle.

“We're very young,” West Chicago-Batavia coach Nick Parry said. “We've got one senior, a pair of juniors and our main contributors are a bunch of freshmen and sophomores. With that we're going to have some ups and downs, and today was one of the downer ones.”

In addition to Bruce, West Chicago-Batavia's Myanna Cook was eighth in the 100 backstroke and ninth in the 100 butterfly.

“We're struggling to learn to swim fast in-season when you're not feeling your best,” Parry said. “We're in a long training process and trying to get that cleaned up as we go.”

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