Neuqua Valley wins Wildcat Relays again

Even though the meet is held at West Chicago High School, the other Wildcats, Neuqua Valley, have taken ownership of the Wildcat Relays.

On Saturday Neuqua Valley won its fifth straight Wildcat Relays and its 10th in the past 11 years.

In the process the visiting Wildcats won six events and racked up a record-breaking performance in the 200 medley relay.

That was the only race Neuqua didn't win last year and the only race for which the Wildcats didn't hold the meet recor. Now it does, 1:38.43.

Neuqua Valley finished the meet with 172 points, ahead of Lockport, which was second with 148. Waubonsie Valley was third with 139.

Neuqua's record-breaking performance, which narrowly missed the pool record was achieved by a team of Grant Betulius in the backstroke, returning state-champion Kevin Cordes in the breaststroke, Brien Gerber in the butterfly and Robert Vechiola in the freestyle anchor leg.

"We're a little off where we could have gone, but we swam well," Betulius said. "We had a few solid splits."

"Our front hundred is unbeatable and our back hundred is almost as good," Gerber said. "This race is important to us. We want to do a solid medley relay all year. We finished fourth at state last year in that event and we want to win it all this year and set the state record."

According to Allen, Betulius and Cordes are set for the sectional team in the first two legs, and there is still competition for the third and fourth legs.

Neuqua Valley also finished first in Saturday's all-relay meeting in the 400 medley relay, the frosh-soph 200 medley, the 200 butterfly, the 200 backstroke and the 200 breaststroke.

Neuqua Valley won the state title two years ago and they finished second last year, but this year there's no sure state champion like Brian Alden or Kevin Overholt, so if Neuqua is hoping to challenge for the state title, or at least a top-three trophy, the points will have to come from a variety of places.

Three key swimmers were missing Saturday, but the guys who were there gave a good account of themselves.

Among those was Hans Peters, a scorer at state last year who missed the early part of this season and is just getting into full fitness.

On Saturday he swam in the victorious 200 butterfly relay.

"Hans is already ahead of last year," Allen said. "We're hoping he can have a breakout year because we need freestylers. His success will be huge for us."

"We want to win state," Peters said. "In order for us to do that we're all going to have to go to the maximum. This meet is important because it shows we're going in the right direction."

Waubonsie Valley scored an impressive victory in the 500 freestyle relay, finishing in 4:23.15, almost four seconds ahead of Neuqua Valley.

That winning Waubonsie team consisted of Gabe Baginski, Tyler Hunt, Joe Poletto and Mike McWhirter.

"Winning that relay is going to give the guys confidence," said Waubonsie Valley coach Luke Payette. "It shows that we're working hard and we're where we want to be at this point in the season."

IMSA (55 points) and West Aurora (54) finished ninth and 10th, respectively. Host West Chicago scored 50 points.

West Aurora coach Joe Neukirch saw some encouraging signs, including the form of senior Connor Wilson, who missed half of last season with an injury.

"Connor's not in top shape yet," Neukirch said. "But he's only had three weeks of practice and he's swimming well. He's our big sprinter and he could qualify for state in the 100 freestyle."

"We finished sixth in the 500 free relay and that was encouraging," Wilson said. "I was happy that I went all best times today."

Neukirch said the Blackhawks have a 40-man roster this year, the largest squad they've had in some time, and that bodes well for the future.