Neuqua Valley swims to second in UEC
A solid across-the-board effort by Neuqua Valley’s boys swim team wasn’t enough to earn the Wildcats this year’s Upstate Eight Conference title.
Instead, Neuqua Valley had to settle for second place with 238 points behind first-time champion St. Charles North’s 294.
“You have to give credit to St. Charles North,” Neuqua Valley coach Chad Allen said. “They had a great meet. We had some bright spots. A couple of junior-varsity guys had some nice drops and hopefully that’s a kickoff for the sectional and state meet.”
Like nearly every school in northern Illinois, Neuqua Valley canceled school on Wednesday and Thursday, leaving meet preparation far different from how Allen and his staff had planned.
“We got a couple of good practices in (Friday) and we practiced (Saturday) morning before this meet,” Allen said. “We got some swimming in this last couple of days to make up for the time off. I don’t think those couple of days off are going to impact us. I think guys are anxious to start the taper.”
Neuqua Valley’s gained two individual champions in the meet. Kevin Cordes broke his own pool record at St. Charles North and set the conference mark when he swam 56.51 and won the 100 breaststroke. Ted Wagner was the diving champion.
“We just kind of struggled at the beginning and lost momentum,” Allen said. “I think, obviously, for sectional, we have to come out a little more positively and have some good swims. I think we will and that’ll be a completely different picture.”
Cordes led his race wire-to-wire and won by nearly five seconds over Waubonsie Valley’s Alex Ding.
“It was my best time of the year,” Cordes said. “We’re just trying to finish and work hard, so I’m really happy with it.”
Cordes admitted the weather-related break wasn’t what he and his teammates had hoped for, but they dealt with it the same way every group of high school athletes did this week.
“Some of our swimmers probably needed a bit of a rest,” he said. “But we still came back and trained hard the last two days. I got in the water on Thursday by myself. But we trained (Friday) and then we worked out before coming to this meet. And (Allen) gave us some stuff we could on dry land, some ab things and push-ups, things like that.”
Yes, it was one of the more strange weeks in which boys swimming teams prepared for a conference meet. But Lake Park coach Dan Witteveen, for one, isn’t sure it was such a bad thing after watching his team finish third in the Upstate Eight Conference meet with 194 points.
“I think we might take three days off before every conference meet,” Witteveen joked.
Lake Park missed training on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday but had a training session on Friday before Saturday’s meet at St. Charles North.
“Swimming’s a mental game, especially with my team,” Witteveen said. “They really came here to swim fast. We’re swimming very well and this will hopefully set up our sectional and state meets.”
None of the Lancers swam faster than Nate Schingoethe, who won the 200-yard individual medley and the 100 backstroke. He also led off the 400 freestyle relay, which took second.
“I got the two I wanted,” Schingoethe said. “I wanted the backstroke record with it, but I was close enough and I was happy with my time.”
Witteveen said his squad’s strong conference meet should bode well when the Lancers return to St. Charles North in two weeks for the IHSA sectional.
“I tell our guys that the Upstate Eight meet is one of the faster conferences out there,” Witteveen said. “You’ve got other conferences out there. But with the St. Charles teams and Neuqua and Waubonsie — come on. You’ve got to love swimming against people like that.”
Waubonsie Valley finished fourth with 185 and Metea Valley was sixth in the seven-team meet with 156 points. Waubonsie Valley’s top performances came from Ding — second to Cordes in the breaststroke — and from Adam Stacklin, who was second in the 100 butterfly. Metea Valley’s best finishes were recorded by Zach McClernon, who was third in the 100 butterfly and fifth in the 200 freestyle. Adam Stack finished fourth in the 100 breaststroke for the Mustangs.