St. Charles North wins at Neuqua Valley
Adam Stacklin is back in the Waubonsie Valley boys swimming lineup, and his return paid immediate dividends.
Stacklin, who injured his back last summer, has been working his way into racing form, and Saturday in his first competitive race of the year at the Neuqua Valley Invite, he joined teammates Mike McWhirter, Stephen Ernst and Joe Poletto to win the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:30.01.
“Having Adam going under a 22 in the 50 really made a difference,” said Waubonsie Valley coach Nick Arens. “This is a big win against great competition. Mike got us off to a great start, Adam increased the lead, Stephen held the lead and then Joey brought it home. He likes to be the last guy on the blocks. He’s the guy we trust.”
“It’s great to be swimming again,” Stacklin said. “My back feels good right now. Winning means a lot. We lost 10 seniors from last year, and this shows we have a lot of young talent coming up.”
Poletto praised his teammates on a great race in every leg.
“I’m really glad my team got me the lead,” Poletto said. “I could feel the Naperville North guy catching up, so I gave it everything I had. I felt the adrenaline going through me the whole race and it helped me go a lot faster.”
Stacklin and Poletto finished second and third, respectively, to St. Charles North’s Nick Kowaleski in the 50 freestyle.
St. Charles North won the meet with 317 points over second-place Naperville North’s 307, and Hinsdale Central was third with 265.
The Red Devils were followed by Neuqua Valley with 239, St. Charles East with 229, Naperville Central (221), Metea Valley (178), Oswego (157) and Waubonsie Valley (142).
“Our guys have been working hard in practice,” said St. Charles North coach Rob Rooney. “This was our first true invitational and I’m happy with how they responded today. It’s nice to come out and swim a normal high school format and get into a routine.”
The North Stars, with Chris Dieter, Joey Chokran, Kowaleski and Kyle Gannon doing the work, won the 100 medley relay in 1:39.08.
Dieter and Kowaleski finished 1-2 in the 100 freestyle.
“It’s incredible how our team swam today because we’ve had a rough week of training,” Dieter said. “We’re really riding the energy we brought into this meet.”
“Being in the same meet with the Naperville teams motivates me,” Kowaleski said. “Having Chris in the same race also helps me compete that much harder.”
There were two record-breaking performances at Neuqua Valley on Saturday.
In the 100 backstroke defending state champion Sean Lehane of Naperville Central set a meet record with a time of 51.58, and in the 500 freestyle, defending state champion Danny Thomson of Hinsdale Central broke the meet record in 4:37.39.
Thomson also won the 200 freestyle.
Naperville North’s 400 freestyle relay team of Tom Hubbard, Sam Hiller, Nick Butz and Nick Bessler won with a time of 3:14.16 and Bessler was the champion in the 200 IM, just ahead of Naperville Central’s Nate Weeks.
Weeks then turned the tables finishing first to Bessler’s second in the 100 butterfly and Michael Stack of Metea Valley won the 100 breaststroke.
St. Charles East coach Joe Cabel was pleased with his team’s fifth-place finish.
“Our relays looked good,” Cabel said. “We were really tired so our good mental attitude was really a plus. Some of the young guys succumbed to being tired, but the older guys didn’t do that. They set a good tone for everyone.”
Cabel praised the work of Shaun Seuschak, T.J. Bindseil and Alec Carnell for the Saints.