Naperville Central breaks through
It’s difficult for a high school swimmer to stay motivated at this time of the year.
Everyone is dog-tired from five-hour practices over the winter “break” and the heavy schedule of meets in January.
Despite the hardship Naperville Central’s Sean Lehane powered through the fatigue Saturday to lead the Redhawks to the championship of the Hinsdale South College Events Meet.
“I have to get motivation from looking forward to the state meet,” Lehane said. “With all we’ve been through, coming in here and getting a win is a big thing.”
Lehane, who won the state championship in the 100 backstroke last year, broke the meet record in the 200 backstroke with a 1:50.04 and he also won the 200 freestyle in 1:46.35.
“I wanted to break 1:50 in the 200 backstroke,” Lehane said. “I wasn’t quite there. It wasn’t my best time, but it was pretty good for being so tired.”
Lehane was also a member of Naperville Central’s winning 400 medley relay and the 800 freestyle relay that sealed the victory for the Redhawks.
Naperville Central won the meet with 240 points, ahead of Hinsdale Central, which scored 221, and Barrington’s 206. Wheaton Warrenville South followed with 179 and then Waubonsie Valley scored 140, Deerfield had 124 and Lake Park was seventh with 97.
And as good as Lehane was, his teammate Nate Weeks just about matched him in achievements for the day.
Weeks won the 400 IM with a swim of 4:13.91 and the 200 butterfly in 1:56.74.
And he was a member of both winning relays.
Lehane, Weeks, Pat Van Duerm and Connor Lamb took first prize in the 400 medley relay in 3:39.43, and then at the end of the day it was Lehane, Noah Wood, Lamb and Weeks to win the 800 free relay by almost 15 seconds in 7:16.20.
“In that last race of the day, I had already gone 600 yards,” Lehane said. “But the whole team had decent swims.”
Weeks likes the college events format and believes that it helps the team at this time of the year.
“A meet like this makes us better racers and shows who has the endurance,” Weeks said. “When we can do the longer events and win it gives us faith that we’ve been training the way we have for a good reason. It’s kind of a character check.”
Both Lehane and Weeks, the only two Redhawks returning who scored at state last year, believe that postseason prospects for the team are good, despite the heavy graduation losses from last year’s second-place team.
“The other guys who we’re going to have to count on for individual spots and to fill out our relays are really coming along,” Weeks said. “When it comes down to it we’re going to be a good team in the post-season.”
“We have Lamb, Wood and Van Duerm and a lot of other guys who are dropping time and they’ll be good at sectionals and state,” Lehane said.
Naperville Central coach Mike Adams is still working out the puzzle to come up with the sectional lineup.
“When you lose a lot of guys, building the team is different,” Adams said. “There are a lot of guys who really want those spots and they’re all working hard. We’re trying to figure out who will be swimming at the end of the year. We had a different lineup today than we did last night against Naperville North. And we’ll have different lineups in the next few weeks. But we’re getting a little better every day.”