Naperville North claims College Events
The Naperville North 800-yard freestyle relay swimmers knew that all four of them would have to step up in the final race of the day for the host Huskies to win Tuesday's College Events Meet at Naperville Central.
Marmion was only one point behind, and the Cadets had already won the first two relays.
And did the Huskies ever step up.
State-qualifier Will Heidler took the first leg and handed a sizeable lead to freshman standout Kevin Butz. Then Butz and the two who followed him, Joel Demuth and Jon Leu, all swam their fastest 200s of the year to give Naperville North the win in 7:22.51, almost 10 seconds ahead of second-place Waubonsie Valley.
"We got together before the race," Heidler said. "It was the last event of the day, and we decided to put it all out there on the line. And everyone did his part."
"Butz, Demuth and Leu are all good 200 swimmers, and they did their season best splits," said Naperville North coach Kurt Johns. "To do that is pretty solid."
The Huskies edged Marmion 154-149 for the meet championship, but Naperville Central with 144 points and Waubonsie Valley with 142 weren't far behind.
"Our team showed today they can compete," Johns said. "They swam against three of the top teams in the state. We won today, but we know how strong those other teams will be at the end. We're going to need a total team effort get into the Top 10 again."
Naperville North, which finished fifth at state last year, is going for its fourth straight Top 10 finish.
Heidler, a junior, who finished sixth in the 200 IM and 10th in the 100 breaststroke last year, has moved comfortably into a team-leadership role.
"Will is a tremendous athlete and we're very lucky to have him," Johns said. "He has really stepped up as a leader the past few weeks. He's pretty vocal in practice, and he's pushing everyone to work harder and that helps a lot. Some of our older kids are also taking a more serious approach and that's rubbing off on the younger kids."
"A lot of guys who haven't had the chance to show what they can do in big meets are really taking advantage of the opportunity," said Heidler, who also won the 400 IM in 4:13.30. "We have good balance over all four classes, so it's just a matter of figuring out where everyone fits in."
According to Johns, at least eight swimmers in addition to Heidler are in contention for spots on the year-end relay teams.
Butz was the Huskies' other individual winner, taking the 1,000 freestyle in 10:05.52.
Naperville Central's Matt O'Brien won the 500 freestyle in 5:06.22, and the Redhawks' Mikey Greco scored 401.90 to win the diving competition.
Waubonsie Valley's Jim Zuponeck was the winner of the 200 breaststroke in 2:13.45, and the Warriors' Jack Poletto was the fastest in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:00.88.
Rosary won the 200 freestyle relay and the 400 medley relay and four individual events.
Matt Pircon touched first in the 50 freestyle in 22.16, Thomas Delves won the 100 free in 49.80, Austin Cox was the victor in the 200 free in 1:51.24 and Tyler Capen took the title in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:54.95.