Neuqua Valley claims Upstate Eight championship
In the Halloween spirit after Saturday's Upstate Eight Conference swim meet, Neuqua Valley coach Mac Guy donned a flowing red Superman cape. He felt that his team had just performed pretty heroically, too.
The host Wildcats earned three gold medals, one of them in the final event of the day, to edge St. Charles North for the conference title, 280-276. Those teams traded the top two spots throughout the day until Neuqua's 400-yard freestyle relay victory put them ahead at the end.
"I knew it was going to be close," Guy said. "This was a really good indicator going into the sectional and state meets that we're doing what we needed to be doing to swim fast. To win this meet we had to be doing just about everything right, and we did."
Sophomore Maggie Maxstadt played a key role for Neuqua. She swam the anchor leg on the first-place 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams and won gold in the 100 freestyle and silver in the 50 freestyle individually, as well.
The Wildcats trailed St. Charles North throughout the 200 freestyle relay until Maxstadt surged at the end and won by half a second.
"All of her swims today were pretty pivotal," Guy said. "She was a returning state qualifier and had big expectations for herself coming into the year and struggled at times in the regular season. I hope this gives her a lot of confidence going into these last few weeks so she's able to meet her expectations."
On Saturday, at least, Maxstadt was all smiles.
"It's invigorating," Maxstadt said. "It's (close) scores like this that push you to do better for your team. It's what high school swimming is all about. I really felt like everything came together today, that all the training and hard work paid off."
She praised her teammates on the deep Neuqua roster for getting her to that point. Courtney Taylor, Megan Childs, and Amanda Childs swam the other legs of the 200 free relay; Taylor, Amanda Childs, and Lauren Pierce joined her on the 400 free relay team. That latter squad edged St. Charles East by .6 seconds in Saturday's finale, with St. Charles North close behind in third place.
It was just enough to keep the conference title from St. Charles North's grasp.
"We knew it was going to be a tight meet between us," North Stars coach Rob Rooney said, praising the back-and-forth battle between his team and Neuqua. "Coming down to the 400 was a great way to end the meet, a well-fought meet for both schools."
The North Stars had a number of highlights, including a pair of conference meet records. Senior Angie Chokran won the 100-yard breaststroke in a record 1:03.88, and joined with Lauren Reynolds, Taylor Gannon, and Kirsten Hutchinson for another in the 200 medley relay. Both broke 10-year-old marks.
Chokran also won gold in the 200 individual medley, and Lauren Zima finished first in the 100 butterfly.
In the end, though, Rooney said his team didn't generate enough points down the whole lineup to win the meet trophy.
"There were a couple events where our swimmers did not execute as well as they're capable of," Rooney said. "You don't win a conference meet with some top individuals. You need other kids to step up, all those other ones who are fighting tooth and nail for points."
St. Charles East finished third among the nine teams in the standings, getting two first-place finishes from Emma Smith: one in the 200 freestyle and another in the 500 freestyle.
Waubonsie Valley took fourth, with gold from Andrea Baumgartner in the 50 freestyle and Gia Dalesandro in the 100 backstroke; Taylor Eggenberger added a gold in diving.
Now attention turns to the sectional meets on Nov. 14 and the state meet beyond.
"There's always something we can improve," Guy said, "but now what we we're doing in the water at this point is based on what we were doing two to three months ago and even before in the offseason. We're reaping the benefits. Now it's time to refine and get ready for state."