Neuqua Valley wins more than a sectional

It was a day of glorious achievement for the Neuqua Valley swimming and diving team, which captured its sectional by winning eight events and setting pool records in the last three races of the meet on Saturday.

And while the Wildcats were excited about the title and what it means for their chances at next week's state meet, the entire team was even happier about John Mordach's state qualification in the 200 IM.

For Mordach, qualifying for the state meet meant that he's finally battled all the way back from the brain tumor surgery he had last year.

"I'm just overjoyed," Mordach said. "I beat my best time from last year and that's a good feeling. And it's a little better because of what I've been through."

Mordach said he's been at his best in practice the past couple of weeks and really felt strong in the water at last week's conference meet and at Saturday's sectional.

"John's qualification was pretty awesome," said Neuqua Valley coach Chad Allen. "It was a just a great swim, but it was also our most emotional moment of the day. It's pretty remarkable when you see how far he's come."

Mordach can't say enough about the support he's received from his teammates throughout his ordeal, his rehabilitation and in his training to achieve his goal to make it to state.

"They've supported me the whole way through," Mordach said. "They picked me up and kept me going when I felt down."

Teammate Brien Gerber, who had a pretty good day himself in winning the 100 butterfly, qualifying in the 200 IM and swimming on the winning 200 medley relay team, seemed even happier about Mordach's triumph.

"It was huge for us," said Gerber. "Everyone knows what he's gone through in the past year and what he did today was the biggest confidence boost for our team. He's a really great athlete for working hard and pushing through. He did a remarkable job."

The Wildcats finished the meet with 283.50 points to top local rivals Naperville Central's 263 and Naperville North, which finished third with 226.50.

Those three and Waubonsie Valley, which finished fifth, qualified all three relays for state.

The Wildcats finished the day in powerful fashion with pool record-setting swims in the 100 backstroke by Grant Betulius in 50.72, the 100 breaststroke by Kevin Cordes in 56.06 and the 400 freestyle relay team of Hans Peters, Conner Jager, Betulius and Andrew Bratsos in 3:07.48, just head of Naperville Central at 3;07.65.

"We finally showed something in our free relays," said Neuqua Valley coach Chad Allen. "We haven't done that all year. We showed a glimpse of what I thought we could do and hopefully we'll be better next week."

Cordes is primed to go for the state record time of 55.56, the longest standing record in Illinois. Expect a great race between him and Peoria Richwoods junior Matt Elliott, who won the Peoria Richwoods sectional in 55.52.

"I'm pushing myself a lot harder this year," said Cordes. "The state record is a realistic goal. I want that and the state championship."

"The winner of the breaststroke next week should break the state record," said Allen. "Kevin and Grant both looked good today in breaking the pool records."

Peters also had a great day, stepping up as the Wildcats' main freestyle scoring threat by winning both the 200 free (a lifetime best) and the 100 free.

Gerber, Betulius, Cordes and Bratsos won the 200 medley relay in 1:33.71 and Ted Wagner scored 474.80 points on the way to the sectional diving title.

"Today I felt like I was hitting every dive, the way I do at practice," Wagner said. "I want to help the team by scoring some points next week."

Naperville Central's Danny Tucker won the 50 freestyle and the Redhawks 200 freestyle relay team of Tony Zhang, Mark Menis, Matt O'Brien and Tucker finished ahead of Neuqua Valley for the sectional championship.

Will Heidler of Naperville North was the 200 IM champion, finishing in 1:54.77 and Oswego's Justin Reppy won the 500 freestyle in 4:42.16, edging Naperville Central freshman Noah Wood at 4:42.89.

at St. Charles East: On a day when some races were decided by the length of a finger nail, Wheaton Warrenville South's boys swimming and diving team won a nail-biter of its own.

The co-op swim team won a three-way race for the St. Charles East sectional crown, scoring 198 points, just ahead of Marmion's 197 and St. Charles North's 195.

"It's fun to win," WW South coach Jacob Ayers said. "We talked about how everybody had a job to do. We knew what our top guys would do. It was a question of what our guys who were in this meet for the first time and what they were going to accomplish. I've got to hand it to them, they were the backbone of this meet."

Give a massive assist to the school's divers - George Doran and Mark Ciesielski - who gave WW South 29 points before the swimming events started.

"That really was the catalyst," Ayers said. "Obviously the swimmers had to start it off with the medley and they did."

WW South's 200-yard medley relay finished third and qualified for the state meet, roared on by a pompon-waving cheering section of the crowd at the Norris Center.

"Everyone on that relay did great - Dan Long, Ryan (Frederickson), JT (Simoneau)," WW South's Collin Hogan said. "We all went way beyond what we thought we would do."

Hogan, a junior, was a part of that relay and he also qualified in the 200 freestyle and the 500 freestyle.

"I'm not completely rested for this meet," Hogan said. "I just tried to score as many points for my team as I could without destroying my taper too much."

Overall, WW South qualified 9 individuals and 1 relay for next week's state meet, which takes place at Evanston.

Lake Park had a strong meet of its own. The Lancers finished fifth and advanced 5 individual entries and all 3 relays to the state meet.

"I wasn't expecting to see us getting as many kids scoring and dropping time as we've had," Lake Park junior Aaron Casper said. "We hit the weights real hard and trained really well. I'm really proud for this to be the last Lake Park team I'll be on. To have all these guys go to state with me is exciting."

Casper, a senior, qualified in the 50 freestyle and the 100 freestyle. In the 50 free, he swam in a lane adjacent to his junior brother Kyle and both qualified.

"I feel good, but I was hoping to go a little faster than I did," Aaron Casper said. "I'm not tapered all the way here. I'm excited to see how things turn out next week. Having my brother next to me helped me in the 50 - the brother rivalry carried me as much as anything. I knew I could get through in the 100. "

Metea Valley, in its first year of existence, sent a team comprised solely of freshmen and sophomores. The Mustangs also qualified their first swimmers to the state meet: Nick Pulgine in the 500 freestyle and Michael Stack in the 100 breaststroke.

Darryl Mellema

at York: Hinsdale Central coach Corky King says his Red Devils have "a lot of real good swimmers" but they don't have a lot of "great" swimmers.

What he means by that is Hinsdale Central enjoys the luxury of being able to put several good swimmers in just about every event, which gives the team plenty of depth.

And that depth was certainly on display at Saturday's York boys sectional swim meet. The Red Devils, who qualified all three relay squads and individuals in eight events for next weekend's state meet, marched to the team title with 252 points, while runner-up Lyons Township took second with 228.

Meanwhile, Downers Grove South and Downers Grove North placed third and fourth, respectively, as the Mustangs nipped their crosstown rival by just 1 point, 169-168. Hinsdale South was fifth (164), and the Willowbrook-Addison Trail Coop squad finished sixth (155).

King explained that a team needs a lot of great swimmers in order to make a run at the state title. "At the state meet, that's what it takes," he said. "We have no expectations (at state) but to have fun and swim fast and see what happens."

However, it's safe to say that Danny Thomson falls into the category of a great swimmer. Thomson led the charge for Hinsdale Central, racking up first-place finishes in the 200-yard individual medley with a pool-record time of 1:56.01, and in the 500 freestyle (4:42.22).

"Danny hasn't tapered yet or shaved down, and he was ninth last year in the 500 (at state)," King said. "The IM is a new event for him. I think he's got a real good chance to go in the top 6 in the 500. He's a gamer."

Willowbrook-Addison Trail's co-op squad made its presence known behind the efforts of junior Damon Zito and senior Brett Buchanan.

It's no surprise Buchanan qualified for state in his specialty, the 100 breaststroke, winning that event in 58.79 seconds. But he also qualified in the 50 freestyle, finishing third (22.21). It's the first time he's made the state cut in this event.

"It's fun," he said. "This is going to be my third time down(state)."

Buchanan will be quite busy at the state meet because he also is part of two qualifying relay teams. The co-op's 200 freestyle relay squad, comprised of Buchanan, Peter Musial, Matt Vasquez and Spencer Phillips, captured second in 1:27.69. The 200 medley relay team of Buchanan, Musial, Phillips and Gabe Chanez punched its ticket to state by finishing third (1:38.2).

Zito, who swims for the Palatine Park District club team, joined the team for the first time this season and, like Buchanan, qualified in two events. He nailed down first place in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:43.95, and gave Thomson a run for his money in the 500 freestyle before finishing a close second (4:42.71).

"His brother Nick is a freshman," said co-op coach Kirk Ziemke. "He (Nick) wanted to come out for the high school team, so Damon decided it was something that he wanted to try, too."

"I think we're going to do really good (at state)," Zito said. "The way we swam today, everybody is looking great. We're going to get a good taper in; we're all going to shave down again and it's just going to be a really fun experience."

Another swimmer with plenty of club experience, Benet's Elliott Batchelder, also came out for the Redwings' swim team for the first time this winter. Batchelder, who currently competes for the Downers Grove Express, will go to state in the 100 butterfly after taking third place with a time of 53.49.

"I really wanted to (come out for the team) in past years" he said, but he couldn't due to his commitments with the Express. "I just got my driver's license because I'm still 16. The travel was a lot easier for me to be able to drive to practice as opposed to finding a ride."

Batchelder, Matt Dukleth, Peter Krzywosz and Bryan Corrigan teamed up to qualify for state in 200 medley relay. The Redwings finished sixth, but their time of 1:39.06 was a little over a second under the state cut (1:40.23).

"We don't have one person who can really edge us through in that sort of a race, so I think really all of us stepped up," Batchelder said. "I also think we can drop more time at state."

Corrigan and Jake Zernhelt also qualified individually for Benet. Corrigan registered a third-place finish in the 100 breaststroke (1:01.73), while Zernhelt's fourth-place time of 54.85 came in just under the state qualifying standard of 55.07.

Vince Errichiello of Downers Grove South won the 100 backstroke in 53.99, qualified in the 200 individual medley by placing third, and was part of the Mustangs' winning 200 medley relay team (1:37.55) along with Peter Errichiello, Scott Blessing and Trevor Christ.

Jake Mueller earned a trip to state by finishing first in the 100 butterfly (53.15). In addition, Brad Jones qualified in both the 100 breaststroke and 100 freestyle, while Jones, Vince and Peter Errichiello and Phil Janowiak made the cut in the 200 freestyle relay.

Downers North's Mike Reed blazed to first-place finishes in the 100 freestyle (recording pool record time of 46.22) and 50 freestyle (21.25).

In the 1-meter diving event, Hinsdale South's Jordan Dyson shattered the pool record by nearly 100 points, accumulating 530.65 points to take the event. Ryan Kujawa of Downers South also qualified by placing second.

Also for the Hornets, Sebastian Ostrowski qualified in two events - the 200 individual medley and the 100 backstroke - while Adam Jones did the same in the 100 freestyle.

Two Hornet relay teams qualified, as well - the 200 freestyle relay of Jones, Ostrowski, Hutton Wagner and Nathan Onchuck, along with the 400 relay (Jones, Ostrowski, Onchuck and Kamron Smith).

Mike Sandrolini