Neuqua Valley splashes to Waubonsie pentathlon win
Holiday break is the time when boys swimmers hit their heaviest training period of the season, working for hours in the water with school not being in session.
Through that time, Neuqua Valley's Andrew Bratsos has been ill and only sporadically in the water. So he had a sense of perspective on what on paper looked like a good day in the water - a second-place points finish in the Waubonsie Valley Pentathlon to Normal U-High's John Williamson.
"I'm pretty tired," Bratsos said. "I've been in and out of the water and I feel my stamina is down. It was all right but I feel I'm behind for the season. I've got a lot of work to do if I want to compete in state in anything."
Bratsos was the top finisher for the Wildcats, but Neuqua Valley put its top five scorers in the top seven places.
In a pentathlon meet, all swimmers from each school compete in five events. Swimmers' times are converted to points based on a chart. The top five swimmers' points then count for the team's score - in a way similar to cross country or golf scoring.
Neuqua Valley scored 21,495 points, the most in the 30-plus year history of Waubonsie Valley's pentathlon-style meet. Of the five over-21,000 scores, four belong to the Wildcats.
"We're a solid stroke team," Bratsos said. "We did a lot of work on our strokes during the summer. I feel like we're pretty set with that."
Hans Peters finished just behind Bratsos in third place. Grant Bertuius was fourth; Brien Gerber sixth and Conner Jager seventh.
The host Warriors edged Oswego for third place and were led in the water by Gabe Baginski's eighth-place finish.
"These guys were working hard the last couple of weeks, focusing on taking a break from school," Waubonsie Valley coach Luke Payette said. "Today really showed some of the hard work they've been putting in and them having fun. We'll be ready to get into this next month of real hard training."
While training yardage has increased, most schools take a competitive break during the break from school. This means swimmers had to, on Saturday, find their racing edge again.
The pentathlon's five events were the 50-yard freestyle, the 100 butterfly, the 100 backstroke, the 100 breaststroke and the 200 freestyle. The format favors teams with high-quality swimmers who have strong in all four strokes.
"They do put in their fair share of yard after yard after yard," Payette said. "Today was a chance for them to get up and see where they are in races they don't normally do all the time."
Metea Valley is competing an abbreviated schedule in its first year of existence, with Saturday being only third meet of the season for the Mustangs. Still, Metea Valley finished fifth of the nine competing teams.
"It's a good measurement for the guys to see where they are," Metea Valley coach Mark Jager said. "They're coming off winter training and they're tired. They're not getting their best times and they're disappointed."
Metea Valley's roster consists of only freshmen and sophomores this year. The best of those at the Pentathlon was Nick Pulgine, who placed 21st.
"I think it's a good motivating factor for them," Jager said. "The first couple of meets we had were frosh-soph invites. They finished well and were winning heats. Being in a meet where there are true varsity guys is a bit of a wake-up call. But they did very well in that, so that's a motivation for them."
West Aurora finished ninth in the team standings but had a solid individual performance from Connor Wiltsie, who finished 14th.
"They enjoy these meets," West Aurora coach Joe Neukirch said. "Kids get to swim events they haven't swam before. For some, it's their first shot swimming the 100 fly or the 100 breast and they enjoyed it."
Depth hurt West Aurora in the team standings. Jacob Wiltsie was the Blackhawks second-best swimmer and he finished 36th.
"Connor Wiltsie did very well," Neukirch said. "He swam five very strong events and placed in the Top 16. This has been his best meet all season and he's gotten better every meet."