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Gerlach's victories push Naperville Central to DVC title

On a day on which he had several outstanding wins for Naperville Central, Eric Gerlach's favorite was his victory in the 50-yard freestyle.

On Saturday Gerlach won that race and the 100 free, anchored the victorious 400 free relay and swam on the 200 medley free relay that finished second to help lead the host Redhawks to their second straight DuPage Valley Conference swimming and diving championship.

"I haven't been swimming the 50 well for a while," Gerlach said. "And I touched out (Wheaton co-op's Matt Rogers) by a 100th of a second. I saw him coming and I really tried to reach for the finish. It's nice to win that way."

Gerlach, who has suffered from a bad cold all week and is just getting back into form, anchored the 400 free relay that also featured Christian May, Phillip Sajaev and Scott Piper to victory four seconds ahead of the Wheaton co-op quartet.

The Redhawks, who also won the JV and freshman divisions of the meet, scored 323 varsity points for the championship over second-place Wheaton co-op, which had 266.

"We always do well at conference as a team because we work so hard during the season," Gerlach said. "Once we taper we'll start putting up the times we want, as well."

Gerlach is expecting to be on all three relays at sectionals and state.

"Eric really got up and raced today," said Naperville Central coach Mike Adams. "He showed why he is so valuable to us on relays. But we still have a few decisions to make about our sectional team lineup."

The Redhawks' 200 free relay team of Brian Calabrese, Liam Coakley, Kyle Jackson and May also came in first, just ahead of a group from Lake Park.

Naperville Central's Jimmy Fox was the conference champ in the 500 freestyle and Sajaev took the title in the 100 breaststroke.

When the day started it was looking good for Wheaton, which won the first three events.

Wheaton's 200 free relay team made up of Max St. Goerge, Evan Sheriff, Daniel Sivak and Rogers finished in 1.38.43, just ahead of the Naperville Central team thatclocked in at 1:38.56.

Then Rogers won the 200 free by a comfortable margin, and St. George took the 200 IM.

"We knew our guys would do well in conference," said Wheaton coach Jacob Ayers. "They're among the best in the area. We've got great strength at the top of the lineup. We have all the right tools to do well at state. The guys are experienced and motivated. But Naperville Central's depth was just too much for us today."

The co-op team also has a strong diver in Luke Cooperman, who scored 418.50 points to finish second to Naperville North's Thomas Petersen, who won the conference diving championship Friday night with a score of 455.75.

Later in the meet St. George also won the 100 backstroke by four seconds.

St. George, who finished fourth at state last year in the backstroke called the DVC championships one of his best meets.

"I'm going faster every meet," he said. "I'm happy with the results. I want to win the state championship in the 100 backstroke this year."

Naperville North sophomore Brandon Chan won the conference title in the 100 butterfly.

  Eric Gerlach of Naperville Central takes part in the 200 Medley Relay during the DuPage Valley Conference boys swimming meet at Naperville Central Saturday. Paul Michna/pmichna@dailyherald.com
  Jake Thomas of GBNE swims the 200 free during the DuPage Valley Conference boys swimming meet at Naperville Central Saturday. Paul Michna/pmichna@dailyherald.com
  Markiz Msciwojewski of Lake Park swims the 200 free during the DuPage Valley Conference boys swimming meet at Naperville Central Saturday. Paul Michna/pmichna@dailyherald.com
  Billy Troy of Naperville North swims the 200 free during the DuPage Valley Conference boys swimming meet at Naperville Central Saturday. Paul Michna/pmichna@dailyherald.com
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