Neuqua competing against itself

One of the goals the Neuqua Valley boys swimming team has set for itself is to break the national record in the 200-yard freestyle relay.

While they weren't breaking any records Saturday, Wildcats teams finished first and second in the 200 free relay on the way to winning the championship at the Fox Valley Invite at Waubonsie Valley.

With the scores of the freshman and varsity events combined, the Wildcats scored 758 points, compared to 476 by second-place Naperville Central. Naperville North was third with 436 followed by Waubonsie Valley with 397.

In the 200 free relay coach Chad Allen split up superstars Brian Alden and Kevin Overholt to make two strong teams.

With both of them leading off, the Overholt team won by the narrow margin of 1:29.56-1:29.76.

While the credentials of those two are well-established (Overholt went 21.76 and Alden did his 50 in 21.07), their six teammates in the race swam just over to well under the 23-second mark.

"We wanted to give everyone a relay split, so we put Kevin and Brian on different teams to lead off," said Neuqua Valley coach Chad Allen. "The other six guys were pretty even."

The "other six guys" were Mike Lehman, Andrew Bratsos and Ryan Jadwin for the Overholts, and John Mikuzis, Brad Kay and Brendan Flores for the Aldens.

"That result says we can really swim the 50 well," Alden said. "We think we can break the state and even the national record."

"We really showed our depth at this meet," Overholt said. "The finish in the 200 relay bodes well for state. It's going to be hard to choose a team because we have so much depth."

Overholt, who finished second in the 200 freestyle last year, has emerged as a consistent team leader who's stepping up both in practice and at meets to give the Wildcats a solid pair of aces.

He won the 200 freestyle and his goal is to take the state championship this year.

"Kevin knows he's a leader," Allen said. "And he will be the leader next year. He's ready and he knows he's ready."

"Last year I underestimated myself," Overholt said. "Then I set higher goals over the summer and I have a better outlook on swimming this year."

Naperville North's Conor Handley was the winner in both the 200 IM and the 100 backstroke, and his teammate Jackson Hill took first in the 50 freestyle.

"My times weren't great but winning those races was good for the team," said Handley, who finished third at state in the 200 IM last year. "My races were consistent, but I'm really tired because the coach kind of killed us in practice last week. We're really preparing for the end of the year."