Neuqua Valley's depth makes the difference
Winning events is important in boys swimming - but you know what's more crucial?
Depth. And Neuqua Valley has plenty of it.
The Wildcats won their own 18th annual varsity invite on Saturday by parlaying its depth into a position to win heading into the final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Neuqua Valley had 339 team points, while St. Charles North was a hair behind with 309.5. Win the event, and you win the meet.
The North Stars held the lead for 10 laps before the Wildcats' Patrick Jensen wrestled it away, and teammate Connor Boyle finished the job in 3:12.79. St. Charles North's tandem of Nathaniel Baxter, Ricky Williams, Brad Whitehurst and Aleksej Filipovic took second in 3:13.86.
"Going into (the race), we knew that St. Charles North would be a really big rival, and we wanted to make sure we came out on top," Jensen said. "We just had the mentality of racing out there and getting after it, because they beat us in the 200 free relay so we really wanted to beat them out in the end."
In all, Neuqua Valley won just 2 events - the 200 freestyle by Boyle (1:44.61) and the 500 freestyle by Jack Hiss (4:45.54). Contrast that with St. Charles North, which had 5 event winners - the 200 medley relay, the 200 individual medley by Aleksej Filipovic (1:56,.67), Will Myhre in the 50 freestyle (a meet-record 20.83 seconds), Filipovic again in the 100 freestyle (46.98), the 200 freestyle relay and Myhre in the 100 breaststroke (a pool-record 54.15 seconds).
But the Wildcats had 16 finishes in the top 10, which made all the difference. The North Stars had 10.
"We have a really big senior class, and we're really strong all the way across the board," Neuqua Valley coach Chad Allen said. "Even though we didn't win as many events as St. Charles North, we were just constantly getting points."
The North Stars' Myhre said the team accomplished its primary goal Saturday.
"We talked about it on the bus this morning and even warming up, we wanted to come to this meet to make a statement," he said. "We're not here to take part … we're here to take over. We came into this meet focused."
St. Charles East was third with 309 points behind 1-meter diver Joey Scimeca, who won with 449.65 points. Austin Cabel took third in the 200 individual medley (1:59.35), and also took fourth in the 500 freestyle (4:53.51). The 200 freestyle relay of Calvin Windle, Matt Nagler, Jack Redden and Garrett Prybell also took third (1:28.58).
Waubonsie Valley took fifth with 253 points, just 3 behind fourth-place finisher Hinsdale Central, thanks to the efforts of Aayush Deshpande, who won the 100 butterfly in 51.81 seconds. He also took second in the 100 backstroke in 53.20, just .15 of a second behind winner Grant Bochenski of Naperville North, which was seventh as a team with 124.50 points.
"A lot of the top-level teams in the state were here, and I think that kind of lets us see where we need some work on our lineup," Deshpande said.
Naperville Central was sixth with 249.5 points and was led by Andrew Dai, who took second in the 100 butterfly (52.37) and fifth in the 200 individual medley (2:00.66).
West Aurora got a solid day out of Cael McLaren, who took two second-place finishes - the 200 individual medley (1:59.27) and the 100 breaststroke (1:00.26). All this, despite being sick earlier in the week.
"Obviously feeling better now," McLaren said with a laugh, then added, "obviously ways to improve, and I have plenty of time to before sectionals and state."
Metea Valley's best performer was Samuel Kastan who took third in the 50 freestyle (21.85). The Mustangs took ninth with 106.5 points.