Neuqua Valley ends drought at own invitational
Neuqua Valley coach Chad Allen believes that the Wildcats have to get stronger in order to hang with the top-level boys swimming teams in Illinois, but it isn't bad to be winning in the meantime.
On Saturday the host Wildcats rode their superior depth to their first Neuqua Valley Invite championship since 2008.
Neuqua's win in the 200 freestyle relay marked its only first-place finish as the Wildcats outscored such foes as Naperville Central, Waubonsie Valley, Hinsdale Central, all regarded as among the top teams in the state.
The Wildcats finished the 200 free relay in 1:26.83 with a foursome of Michael Peters, John Ruan, Matt Ciezczek and Joey Dalesandro combining for the win.
"We wanted to make a statement with that race," Ciezczek said. "We showed today that we have people who can compete. All four guys were strong in the 200 free relay. That race was a lot of fun and really rewarding."
"Today's result really showed our depth," Allen said. "The format with 16-place scoring was good for us. But we still have to get better at the top of our lineup. It's nice to win without our top guys swimming their best."
Allen was encouraged by Peters' second place finish in the 100 breaststroke and Dalesandro's third-place finish in both the 50 and 100 free.
"The whole team has shown significant progress in practice," Allen said.
The Wildcats' winning point total was 414 to second-place Naperville Central's 379. Waubonsie Valley was third with 285, followed by Hinsdale Central with 217.
St. Charles East was fifth with 213.5 points followed by Lincoln-Way East with 202, St. Charles North (189) and Metea Valley (170.5).
Naperville Central's Scott Piper was the individual standout of the day with victories in both the 200 IM in 1:57.60, and the 100 backstroke in 52.81.
"Mentally, it was good to get that one last invite in before we hit the pool really hard over break," Piper said. "I was comfortable with my races today, happy with my underwaters in the backstroke."
Waubonsie Valley was especially happy with its third-place finish. It produced victories in the other two relays as well as a pair of individual wins. The highlight was a meet-record 3:12.73 that gave Warriors Michael Schwers, Eric Weng, Taggart Lohmann and Jared Simpson the victory in the 400 freestyle relay.
"It was cool to break the meet record," Weng said.
Simpson, Kai Motoyama, Schwers and Ethan Morse won the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:37.87.
Schwers was also successful winning the 100 fly in 51.22 as was Weng, who took top honors in the 100 free in 47.12.
"Our boys came ready to race against some of the best in the state," said Waubonsie assistant coach Jeff Davis. "They were excited about this meet to show what we can do."
Andrew Lewarchick won the diving with 409.60 points, but the Saints finished fifth in the team standings.
"I was a little disappointed," said St. Charles East coach Joe Cabel. "I thought we had a good opportunity to finish fourth, but we fell off at the end. We still have to get our relays figured out."
Cabel praised Lewarchick on his victory and Mitchell Milosch who finished third in the 100 backstroke.
St. Charles North was led by Joe Myhre, who won the 50 free in 21.82 and finished second in the 100 free.
"I was disappointed about the second-place finish in the 100," said Myhre, who finished sixth at state in the 50 free last year. "I still have a lot to work on."
"Joe is a phenomenal swimmer and competitor," said St. Charles North coach Rob Rooney. "He's never happy if he doesn't win. As a coach, it's just nice to have a guy who has that much fire inside him. "
The coach had high praise for Stephen Hutchinson who was second in the 50 free, Michael Burke who was second in the diving and William Myhre, who was fifth in the 200 IM, as well as Caymus Cairns and Nick Wolff who finished just outside the top ten in the 500 free and freshman Brad Whitehurst, who made a strong showing in both the 200 and 500 free.
"Our guys times are not lighting up the board right now," Rooney said. "But they will be at the end of the season. I'm excited about everything that can happen in the next two months."