Naperville Central second, Metea Valley third at Trojan Invitational
It was a big day for the Lyons Township boys swimming team at Saturday's Downers Grove North Trojan Invitational.
The Lions won the seven-team competition.
At the same time, though, it was a big day for Naperville Central and Metea Valley.
The Lions won eight events, including all three relays, to finish with 318.5 points. Naperville Central was second at 279, and Metea Valley was third with 209.5.
"There were a lot of great swims at all levels," said Redhawks coach Mike Adams. "Second place is not a problem. I think we're in good shape for the end of the year and that's what we aim for. We had a lot of contributions from everyone."
The Redhawks won three events, including two victories from Phillip Sajaev. He first won the 50-yard freestyle in 21.86 seconds and later won the 100 breaststroke, clocking in at 1:00.21.
"I liked the 50 freestyle. I've gone faster, but I executed that race better," Sajaev said.
The other win for Naperville Central came from Matt Wooten, who touched the wall in 2:03.02. Teammate Will McDonald was right behind him in second at 2:03.83.
"We've been dropping time throughout the team. We've definitely gotten better since the first meet of the season. We're looking forward to a great postseason," Sajaev said.
Metea Valley went home with one individual championship. Janssen Gamilla won the 100 butterfly in 54.02, holding off Ben Johnson of Lyons Township, who finished in 54.14.
"Janssen has been very good. He's been really consistent during the back half of the season. He hit it pretty hard today," said Mustangs coach Mark Jager.
Another highlight for Metea Valley was placing second to Lyons in the 200 freestyle relay and knocking almost three seconds off its seed time. John Tjards, Ben Forbes, Connor Mitsch and Gamilla racked up a 1:31.67.
It's the home stretch of the high school boys swimming season. Metea Valley hosts its own invitational next weekend and then it and all teams tackle the postseason.
"We were using today to make final decisions on who will be in sectionals and who will rest for the conference meet," Jager said. "Next week we'll experiment with some different things."
The DuPage Valley Conference meet is Feb. 4 and sectional competition is Feb. 18.
Benet tied for fifth with Downers Grove North in the team standings with each finishing at 130.5. The top finisher for the Redwings was James McAveeney, who swam to a third place in the 100 breaststroke in 1:01.14, which was faster than his seed time of 1:03.39.
Rolling Meadows was fourth at the meet with 137 points. Josh Dellorto earned two third-place finishes in the 200 freestyle and later the 100 freestyle for his team's top results.