Naperville Central hopes invite win is indicator for postseason
It was a big day for the Naperville Central at the Downers Grove North Trojan Invite on Saturday, but the Redhawks are looking at it as just a start toward their end-of-season goals.
The Redhawks posted victories in four individual races and the 200 freestyle relay to amass 305 points to win the Trojan Invite over second-place Lyons Twp., which scored 281.
Metea Valley was third with 221, followed by Downers Grove South (160), Rolling Meadows (137), Downers Grove North (119) and Benet (95).
Naperville Central senior Scott Piper was among the big winners on the day, taking the victory in both the 200 IM in 1:58.08 and the 100 backstroke in 53.15.
"I'm happy with how I swam today," Piper said, "but there's always room for improvement. I'm at the point of the year where I'm polishing things up, working on my underwaters, my turns and starts."
The Redhawks' Michael Stern won the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:47.88, and teammate Matt Wooten finished second in 1:48.76. Phillip Sajaev of Naperville Central took first in the 100 breaststroke in 1:00.96.
"That was my fastest time of the season, thus far," said Sajaev, who finished third at state in the breaststroke last year. "We're all going a lot faster at this meet than we did last year. We hope winning this meet is a good indicator of what we can do in February."
Naperville Central coach Mike Adams was pleased with Saturday's victory but emphasized how much work his team still has ahead if it is to compete with the very best at state.
"It's always good to get out of the training doldrums and get in the pool and race," Adams said. "Everyone has really been working hard in training, and today we got the opportunity to race against fine teams like LT and Metea Valley.
"We saw some good signs today and we'll be able to build off this."
Sajaev, Wooten, Kyle Jackson and Eric Gerlach combined to win the 200 freestyle relay in 1:28.46 as Lyons, which won the other two relays, finished second in 1:29.30.
Naperville Central was second in the 200 medley relay with Ryan Lehane, Jackson, Piper and Sajaev turning in a time of 1:39.46, a little more than a second behind the Lions.
And it was Stern, Nick Rosenstiel, Sajaev and Gerlach who were barely edged out 3:17.79 to 3:17.99 by Lyons to take second in the 400 free relay.
"We're so deep in the relays that we have a lot of options at sectionals," Piper said. "The coach is trying different lineups to see who will step up. We have the potential to finish top six in all three relays."
Sam Dumford of Downers Grove South was another big winner at the Trojan Invite, taking victories in both the 50 free and the 100 free.
"These were better than the times I swam here last year by a good margin," Dumford said.
Alex Dillman of Metea Valley won the 100 butterfly with a time of 53.92.