Scouting DuPage County boys swimming
Top teams: Neuqua Valley, Waubonsie Valley, Naperville Central, Hinsdale Central.
Top swimmers and divers: Addison Trail-Willowbrook co-op: Jack Burns, sr.; Evan Zimmerman, sr.; Aidan Nichols, jr.; Thomas Holmes, jr.; Eric Hoda, jr.; Benet: Ryan Flynn, sr.; Colin Flynn, jr.; Ian Smith, sr.; Brady Quinlan, so.; Nick Tommasone, so.; Downers Grove North: Kevin Sullivan (diver), sr.; Jonah Kopeckey (diver), so.; Patrick Deitrich, sr.; Glenbard East-North co-op: Christian Vergara-Hernandez, sr. Glenbard West-South co-op: Gage Ridinger, sr.; Hinsdale Central: Donovan Lahmann, sr.; Trystan Lundgren, sr.; Frankie Morrissey, sr.; Cullen Cochlan, jr.; Conor Dunne, sr.; j Kareem Bitar, sr.; Ryan Donnell (diver), sr.; Hinsdale South: Tommy Matulis, jr.; Andrew Schmid, so.; Will Gallagher, fr.; Joseph Ofenloch, sr.; Kamil Kawiecki, sr.; Lake Park: Ben Kimmel, jr.; Ernest Berdychowski, so.; Norbert Szczotka, jr.; Bryan Mendoza, fr.; Metea Valley: Sam Kastan, sr.; Austin Martinson, jr.; Janssen Gamilla, so.; Alex Lafferty, jr.; Naperville Central: Luke Klein-Collins, sr.; Brad Sanford, sr.; Andrew Dai, jr.; Cameron Kalish (diver) sr.; Goncalo Wanzeller, so.; Matt King, sr.; Sam Flessner, sr.; Ben Russo, sr.; Naperville North: Joey Yuan, sr.; Grant Bochenski, so.; Andrew Li, so.; Neuqua Valley: Jack Hiss, sr.; Sathya Subramanian, sr.; Connor Boyle, so.; Patrick Jensen, sr.; Tanner Schrey, sr.; Jimmy Senese, so.; Ethan Tuel (diver), sr.; Waubonsie Valley: Aayush Deshpande, jr.; Jake Darlinger, sr.; Ryan Ruhde, sr.; Lucas Conrads, so.; Reilly Tremain (diver), sr.; Brad Daugherty, sr.; Elmer Wang, so.; West Chicago: Teegan Cook, so.; Kyle Wolford, jr.; Garret Sims, jr.; Brian Culloton, jr.; Logan Townsend, fr.; York: Jay Jensen, jr.; Isaac Marlott, sr.; Ben Harrington, so.
Outlook: Not only did DuPage County put three teams in the top 10 at the state swimming and diving meet, but four more schools from the county placed in the top 25. This continues the DuPage tradition in both boys and girls swimming as one of the sport's high school hotbeds in Illinois. Up there with the elites were Hinsdale Central, which finished third, Neuqua Valley, which was sixth, and ninth-place Waubonsie Valley. All three suffered significant graduation losses but return enough state-tested talent to make it right back with the elites.
Hinsdale Central has established itself as a perennial contender, but the big battle for local supremacy will take place in the Naperville area, where Neuqua Valley and archrival Waubonsie Valley will face off while keeping an eye on formidable DuPage Valley Conference neighbors Naperville Central, Naperville North and Metea Valley.
Neuqua Valley loses some key people from its three scoring relays such as Kyri Chen and John Ruan, but the Wildcats return standouts such as Hiss and Subramanian, who will lead this year's deep and talented group. Boyle, who finished sixth at state in the 100 free as a freshman, exceeded expectations. He leads a speedy younger group that will keep Neuqua up near the top of the standings.
"We have a large senior class with several guys who can step up and give us points," said Wildcats coach Chad Allen. "Look for Subramanian and Jensen to swim on Saturday in individual events and fill key relay positions. Tuel is expected to be among the top echelon of divers. This team is similar to last year's, but they know how hard they have to work to win conference again and return to the state's top 10."
Waubonsie Valley, which finished ninth at state despite missing three key swimmers to injury, is expected to challenge the Wildcats in conference and compete for one of the top five places at state. "We were better than the ninth place team we saw last year," said first-year coach Chris Hagenbaumer. "And we could be even better this year."
Deshpande, who was eighth in the 100 butterfly, leads a strong group of Warriors looking to swim on the second day of the state meet in individual events such as Daugherty and Conrads. They'll also be mainstays of the Waubonsie relays, which Hagenbauer believes can finish in the top six. Wing is an outstanding sophomore who can eventually score in the 100 breaststroke. "We have a lot of competition for spots on the relays," Hagenbaumer said. "And the eventual relay lineup will determine who swims in which individual events at sectionals. We've got some experience and the talent coming in is exciting. Our goal is top five, but we may be even be better than that as the boys continue to learn and compete."
Naperville North - which loses a deep and talented class of seniors, including II Qiao, who is now swimming for Brown - will have to work hard and see the development of some of its younger guys in order to equal or top last year's 12th-place finish. Bochenski is poised to break the Huskies record in the 200 free. Li is a top-flight distance freestyler, and Yuan will be competitive in several races.
"We have a nucleus that we're counting on," coach Andy McWhirter said. "And they're being pushed by a solid group of newcomers who will fill in the holes left by the graduating seniors. Three qualifying relays and a few qualifications in individual swims would prove that we're back on the right track."
Naperville Central has a lot of talent returning from the team that finished 24th at state. That includes a group that swam on a pair of scoring relays. These returnees now have state experience, which will be a big help at the end of the year. Dai finished top 12 in the 200 IM and is looking to improve on that performance. "We had a lot of young kids last year, and now they're experienced veterans who know what to expect," coach Mike Adams said. "We are just looking for steady improvement and everything else will take care of itself. Our goals are to qualify more kids and improve upon last year's finish."
Metea Valley is probably less experienced than it has been in recent years, but a new crop of promising swimmers should replenish the Mustangs relays. Martinson in the fly, Gamilla in the breaststroke and Lafferty in the backstroke give them a strong nucleus. "Our young guys are technically sound and could develop into something pretty decent," coach Mark Jager said.
Hinsdale Central will be back in the mix this year after losing a number of key people to graduation. However, the people who return are definitely ready for prime time. Lahmann and Lundgren are returning scorers and Cochlan is a standout flyer. "We have a lot of moving parts, including several people who went on our scoring relays," coach Bob Barber said. "We'll find the guys to fill in the holes. We're shooting for top five and could be a trophy team if the pieces fall into place."
Benet's fortunes are looking up as coach Ben Gensler has his deepest squad in recent years. They have several potential qualifiers, including freestyler Tommasone, Smith and Flynn. "We've improved in every one of the past three years," Gensler said. "And we're looking to continue to grow this year. We have a lot of competition for the relay positions."
Downers Grove North is in a sort of rebuilding mode, but the Trojans do have returning state diving champion Sullivan, who has committed to Penn State. The hallmarks of Sullivan's excellence are his consistency and his mental approach, which is to not let one bad dive bring down the rest of his program. The Trojans will be young and hoping to improve as the season goes on.
West Chicago-Batavia co-op is headed by the versatile Cook, who could qualify in a number of events and Woolford. He has improved as a backstroke contender. Freshman Townsend is a quality distance swimmer.
Addison Trail-Willowbrook co-op's Burns is a potential state qualifier as a sprinter and the main guy in the quest to qualify a relay team.
Hinsdale South's conference champion has Matulis who was close to qualifying in both the 200 IM and the 100 breaststroke and worked hard in the offseason to make sure he gets to state this year. Schmid and the versatile Gallagher lead a potentially strong supporting team.
Lake Park features Kimmel, one of the top swimmers in the state who finished fifth in the fly and sixth in the backstroke. This year he should put up some points in the 200 IM. "Ben is faster this year," coach Dan Witteveen said. "He's a unique talent and he's starting to believe that he can be pretty good." There's also enough talent emerging to give the Lancers a relay or two at state. Freshman Mendoza is a future gem.
York has a pair of possible qualifiers in Jensen and Marlott, and needs to find a backstroker to complete a high quality medley relay team.
Ridinger of the Glenbard West-Glenbard South co-op team didn't swim last year but hopes to qualify in the 500 freestyle as a senior and Vergara, who started swimming as a freshman has a chance in the 100 breaststroke for the Glenbard East-Glenbard North co-op team
Key dates: Dec. 8: West Chicago Relays; Dec. 14-15: Neuqua Valley Invite; Downers Grove South Invite; Dec. 21-22: Naperville North College Events Invite; Dec. 29: Waubonsie Valley Aquapentathlon; Jan. 5: Hinsdale South College Events Invite; Jan. 12: Hinsdale Central Diving Invite; Jan. 18-19: Downers Grove North Trojan Invite; Jan. 25: Metea Valley Invite; Feb. 1-2: Conference meets; Feb. 16: Sectional meets: Feb. 22-23: IHSA State Meet at New Trier.
- Neil Shalin