Depew, Rickert double up

Naperville Central gave it the old 1-2 in two events at Saturday's Trojan Invitational at Downers Grove North.

Though they finished second in the overall boys swimming team standings, the Redhawks took both first and second place in both the 200 individual medley and the 100 breaststroke, with senior Bobby Rickert finishing second in the former and first in the latter.

Chris Depew won the IM in 2:03.74 with Rickert not far behind with a time of 2:03.94.

"We do IM sets together in practice," Depew said. "On the backstroke I get a little ahead, and on the breaststroke he forces me to keep going and keep my lead. My first half is a little better, and he's a little better in the second half. Today we were in adjoining lanes so we knew what we were going to do together."

"It was the fastest time ever for both of us in the IM," Rickert said. "Chris was just pushing me, especially at the end of the race."

And then a similar dynamic was at work when Rickert outdistanced teammate Ben Reasons in the breaststroke 1:01.37-1:03.30.

"We don't have an all-star like we've had in other years," Rickert said. "So we're getting two people to do well in a lot of events, that's how we're going to score points. We know we have to do it as a team."

The talent is so even at the top of the Redhawks' lineup that the swimmers don't know the makeup of the end-of-the-year relays, nor are they sure at this point who will swim in most of the individual events.

"Because everything is still up in the air, our goal is just to have everyone stay competitive," Reasons said.

"We all came into the season swimming fast," Rickert said. "We all showed how hard we worked in the off-season."

Rickert finished 13th at state last year in the breaststroke.

"I hope to be swimming the breaststroke at state and my goal is to score," Rickert said. "That's my best stroke, but I still don't know if I will be swimming the IM. We have a lot of good IMers."

Lyons Twp., which won all three relays, the 100 butterfly and all four individual freestyle races, scored 296 points at the meet, with Naperville Central finishing with 270.

"We lost to a great team in LT," Rickert said. "It's good to know we came close."

"We had a lot of good swims today," said Naperville Central coach Mike Adams. "I was really happy with our effort and our energy. I'm pleased with where we're at."

Host Downers Grove North was third in the team standings with 161.50, and Downers Grove South was fourth with 155.50. Benet finished fifth with 147 points.

The Mustangs' Matt McCahill and Steve Haake were 1-2 in the diving competition, and Wheeling's Erik Maczko finished first in the 100 backstroke.