Redhawks reclaim DVC championship from Wheaton
To Amy Prestinario of Naperville Central, variety during the girls swimming season is a key to success in the big meets at the end.
On Saturday, Prestinario, the defending state champion in both the 200 IM and 500 freestyle, mixed it up a little, as she's done all season, to win both the 500 and the 50 freestyle. That helped the Redhawks reclaim the DuPage Valley Conference championship.
Prestinario was also a member of the two winning freestyle relay teams that scored major points as the Redhawks, who won in both 2004 and 2005, outdistanced last year's champion, Wheaton co-op, 234-208 for the DVC title.
Naperville North was third with 198 points followed by West Chicago with 139 and West Aurora with 125.
"I like to swim every event," Prestinario said. "Not just the two I'll swim at state. Swimming different races helps keep my attitude straight for sectionals and state. I don't have to worry about swimming faster in my events every time. I try to bring the same mental attitude to every race. Today, I just wanted to swim the 50 to see how I would do."
"For Amy the 50 was fun," said Naperville Central coach Jon Carlson. "We've been training hard and that releases the pressure a little bit."
Prestinario was joined on both winning relays by Vanessa Hendrix, Heather Gardner and Erin Lamb.
Lamb won both of her individual events, finishing as conference champion in both the 100 and 200 freestyle.
"Erin doesn't know how to swim slow, even at practice," Carlson said. "More than anyone, I have to slow her down a little bit. Today she had some really good swims and that was after training hard all week. I feel like we'll see something special from her at state."
The conference championship in the 200 medley relay was taken by Wheaton co-op, while Liz Chollet of West Aurora won the diving and freshman Kelly Dunn, captured West Chicago's first DVC championship in years with a victory in the 100 backstroke.
"It was a good swim for Kelly," said West Chicago coach Nick Parry. "She's starting to figure out what everything's all about and putting it together. This is a jumping-off point for sure."
"Winning conference is a great feeling of accomplishment because it's something I worked really hard for," Dunn said. "And it was wonderful to be able to beat my best time."
Naperville North won three events with Emma Williams gaining the DVC championship in both the 200 IM and the 100 butterfly and Kristin Lynch finishing first in the 100 breaststroke.
"My goal is to finish in the top six in the fly," Williams said. "I'm happy with what I did today. Our team did well for this point in the season. We've been working hard and we're all really tired."