Curia, Naperville North win sectional
Naperville North's Eric Curia is only a junior, but he's regarded by his coaches and teammates as a team leader.
On Saturday Curia turned in a truly outstanding swim, breaking his own personal best by more than 10 seconds in the 500 freestyle to help lead the Huskies to the Metea Valley sectional championship.
The Huskies, who won all three relays and four individual races, amassed 282 points to win the title. Naperville Central was second with 200, followed by Neuqua Valley with 190.5, Metea Valley with 150.5 and Waubonsie Valley with 134.
Curia, who was fully tapered for the sectional, completed the 500 freestyle in 4:33.86, eight seconds ahead of Kevin Butz, who is considered one of the best in Illinois and finished fourth at state last year. Butz still has some tapering to do.
“When I saw the time on the board I was beyond astonished,” Curia said. “I was shocked that I went as fast as I did. Nothing describes how happy I was after that race.”
It's the first time Curia ever defeated Butz in the 500.
“During the race when I saw that I was beating Kevin,” Curia said. “I thought, ‘Just keep up the pace because I'm obviously doing something good.' Butz is an incredible swimmer. I wouldn't be here right now were it not for him.”
Butz also qualified in the 200 freestyle.
“We had some remarkable swims today,” said Naperville North coach Andy McWhirter. “But Eric's 4:33 energized the whole team for the rest or the day. He just got us going, and we kept that energy going throughout the meet.”
“The way Eric dropped his time fully tapered makes us excited about how we're going to drop next weekend,” said Andrew Eiken, who swam on the two winning freestyle relays, won the 200 freestyle and qualified in the 100 freestyle. “We have high expectations for our relays.”
Huskies senior Nick Bessler won both the 200 IM and 100 fly and was also a member of the team's 200 medley relay along with Sam Hiller, David Healy and Tom Hubbard, and the 400 free relay, which also featured Eiken, Hubbard and Butz.
Hubbard, who was on all three relays, also qualified for state in the 100 freestyle. Hiller, who was on both the 200 medley and the 200 freestyle relay, made the state cut in the 100 backstroke.
Defending state champion Sean Lehane of Naperville Central won the 100 backstroke, finishing in 50.82. The Redhawks also grabbed both first and second in the diving competition as Kyle Faulkner put up 390.20 points and Joe Gucwa scored 374. 80.
Faulkner, who just missed making state last year, qualifies automatically by winning the sectional championship.
“After missing by so little last year, I committed to making state this year,” Faulkner said. “I worked hard over the summer and throughout the year with both my high school and club coaches. I'll spend this week cleaning up my dives to prepare for state.”
Adam Stacklin of Waubonsie Valley, who won the 50 freestyle in 21.72, and his teammate Joe Poletto, who finished second in 21.97, were the only two qualifiers in that event.
Metea Valley's Michael Stack won the 100 breaststroke in 57.65.