Boys swimming: Neuqua Valley edges Naperville North for DVC crown
Neuqua Valley sophomore swimmer Jack Langan says that the better the opposition, the more he gets motivated.
Saturday at the DuPage Valley Conference boys swimming championship meet at Metea Valley, he used that mindset to his advantage.
Langan won the 200 individual medley in the time of 1:56.76, and the victory helped propel the Wildcats to the conference title.
Neuqua Valley edged Naperville North 301-286 for the crown. Waubonsie Valley was third with a score of 222.
“It was tough out here," said Langan. “I’m very happy with how I did today with all of the great competition. I know most of my opponents (in the 200 IM), we’re friends, so I really wanted to win.
“I just find that I have more fun when I swim faster, and having higher competition makes me so much more excited. I just really love to race.”
Naperville North was led by senior Mason Hofmann, who won the 50 free (21.74) and was fastest of all in the 100 breaststroke (55.41).
Hofmann, who Huskies coach Aaron Maschman says “stays in the pool just about year round”, is a star water polo player in addition to being an integral part of the swim team.
He led Naperville North to a third place water polo state finish last year, and he still has one more prep season to go this spring. After graduation, he’ll move on to compete in water polo at Johns Hopkins University.
The senior said that he was introduced to swimming at a very young age, saying with a smile that “my parents had me in the pool when I was probably just a couple of months old.”
He added that he’s following in the footsteps of his father, who was a collegiate swimmer at the University of Chicago.
Hofmann, along with teammates Joshua Leu, Allen Xu and Max Fedorovskiy, won the 200 medley relay in the first event of the day. He said that victory helped pace his team to Saturday’s razor-thin second place finish.
“That was a great kickoff,” said Hofmann, “and a great confidence booster."
Maschman said that Hofmann's outstanding performance at the DVC meet was no surprise.
“He trains hard,” said the coach, “he pushes himself, and how much he’s progressed over the last four years is indicative of his work ethic. He’s a very intelligent kid.”
The DVC title tourney had a start time of 10 a.m. Saturday, and Hofmann added it’s important to develop a routine to get things going that early.
“You’ve got to build up your habits throughout the season,” he said, “so that when the time a championship meet comes around, you already know what to do.”
Waubonsie Valley sophomore Logan DiLallo won the diving event. The top performance by Naperville Central came from George Zenow (22.50), second to Hofmann in the 50 free.
Redhawks sophomore Griffin Bellandi, who excelled in the frosh-soph relays, said the success of his school at Metea was all about "hard work all season, morning practices, practices after school. It really means a lot to us."
Jack Reif of Naperville North was victorious in the 100 fly and 200 free. Teammate Fedorovskiy took the 100 free, and the Huskies also won the 400 free relay.
For championship-clinching Neuqua Valley, Arun Kaura was first in the 500 free and Ryan Watson won the 100 back. The Wildcats also grabbed the medals in the 200 free relay.
The best placement for DeKalb-Sycamore co-op was a fourth place showing by senior Kevin Sullivan in the 100 back.
“He’s a very hard worker,” said coach Melanie Chambers. “He’s looking forward to sectionals and (possibly) going downstate.
“Kevin’s been on varsity all four years, and he’s a great leader by example. He’s very calm, very level-headed, but also knows how to get his teammates hyped up.”