Neuqua Valley gives DVC competition a good look
The DuPage Valley Conference boys swimming meet is next weekend, and with four DVC teams at Saturday's Metea Valley Mustang Invitational, that meant there was a good preview.
Neuqua Valley won the 13-team meet with 475 points, with the three other DVC teams competing following right in order. Naperville North was second at 401, the hosts took third at 346 and Waubonsie Valley was fourth at 312.
"We swam pretty well today," said Neuqua coach Chad Allen. "I think it will be a dogfight (at the conference meet) between us, Naperville Central and Waubonsie Valley. Naperville North was impressive today. I wouldn't rule them out."
The Wildcats won four individual events and a relay. John Ruan won the 50-yard freestyle in 21.89 seconds and shortly afterward touched the wall first in the 100 freestyle in 47.38.
"I'm happy with both races. Both were personal bests this season," Ruan said.
Teammate Kyri Chen won the 100 backstroke in 53.30.
The relay win came in the final event of the day, the 400 freestyle relay. Jacob Cunningham, Chen, Sathya Subramanian and Ruan clocked in at 3:14.19.
The diving portion of the meet was held Friday night at Metea. Neuqua's Robby Nowicki placed first, scoring 450.85 points.
Naperville North also went home with a double winner. I.I. Qiao won the 200 individual medley in 1:56.73 and then prevailed in the 100 butterfly in 51.20.
"I'm happy with both times, especially the 100 fly, 51.2 is the best time I've had this season," Qiao said.
The Huskies won the first event of the day, the freshman 200 medley relay, in 1:46.91 thanks to Ethan Chuang, Jack Tarantino, Forrest Coleman and Owen Jacobs. The meet featured freshman heats of all three relays, and all three counted in the varsity scores.
"We're doing pretty good. The key boys posted some good times despite being tired and not tapered," said Naperville North coach Andy McWhirter.
Qiao said the Huskies have shown improvement as the season progressed.
"Our team has gotten a lot better. A good showing at conference would help with a good showing at sectionals and then state," he said.
Host Metea won the 200 freestyle relay. Samuel Kastan, Ben Forbes, Janssen Gamilla and John Tjards finished in 1:30.09.
Waubonsie won one relay and one race. The 200 medley relay of Jared Simpson, Bryan Ellig, Aayush Deshpande and Eric Weng earned a time of 1:38.79. Ellig went on to win the 100 breaststroke.
Glenbard West-South co-op was sixth at the meet with 274 points, and Benet was eighth with 173. The best finishes for the Hilltoppers were Nick Andres third in the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle.
Benet's James McAveeney swam to third in the 100 freestyle in 49.59.