Neuqua Valley stands atop relays standings
Neuqua Valley's boys swimming team loves participating annually in the Wildcat Relays at West Chicago because it gives coach Chad Allen the opportunity to see where the team stands early in the season.
At Saturday's relays Neuqua Valley proved that it stands in a pretty good place.
Neuqua Valley broke a pair of meet records, winning eight races outright and tying for first in one to take the Wildcat Relays championship for the third year in a row and the 14th time since 1999.
"We feel good about today," said Michael Peters, one of the key performers for Neuqua. "It was really a team effort. Last year we won but only one or two guys really stepped up. This year it was everyone."
"They're swimming a little better than I expected at this time of the year," Allen said. "We're similar to last year when we finished eighth at state but a little stronger in the freestyle races. We have good depth and the boys have a lot to prove."
Last year's eighth-place finish at state was accomplished by the three relay teams that scored without an individual swim making it to the top 12.
This year Allen expects his team to contribute some points in the individual races.
Joey Dalesandro, who is putting up good times in the sprint-free events, and Peters, who is strong in both the breaststroke and the IM, are among Neuqua Valley swimmers who could score.
On Saturday Neuqua Valley set a meet record in the 400 IM relay finishing in 3:46.73, behind Kyri Chen, AJ Quinn, Saytha Subramanian and Peters.
Neuqua Valley also broke the meet record in the 200 medley frosh-soph relay which, along with the frosh-soph 200 free relay, is counted into the final varsity team point standings.
It was Chen, Subramanian, Kevin Wu and John Ruan who won 200 medley frosh-soph relay in 1:40.39.
"Ruan is swimming as well as anyone," Allen said. "He swam well today. He's definitely in the mix of the guys who are fighting for spots on the free relays at sectional."
Sophomore Ruan, along with Jacob Cunningham, Peters and Dalesandro also stepped up to take the 200 free relay in 1:27.62, six seconds ahead of second-place Waubonsie Valley.
"We broke two meet records, finished second all-time for the meet in two others and in the top five all-time for the meet in two others," Allen said. "That's six races in the top five. We were strong across the board, as the guys had pretty even splits throughout the day. It's fun when everyone can be involved."
Neuqua Valley scored 181.5 points to win the meet, with second-place Waubonsie Valley scoring 148. McHenry was third with 92.5
McHenry tied Neuqua for first place in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:43.17 and won the 800 free relay in 7:23.39 a little over a second ahead of Waubonsie Valley.
The Warriors' foursome of Brian Ellig, Cole Steffl, Kai Motoyama and Jared Simpson swam a 1:56.41 to win the 200 breaststroke relay.