Neuqua Valley the real deal in prelims
At last week’s girls swimming sectional, after host Neuqua Valley underperformed a little, coach Brandon King said he was confident that the “real” Wildcats, the fully-tapered Wildcats, would step up at the state tournament.
In Friday’s state preliminary meet at New Trier, the Wildcats justified their coach’s faith and produced some excellent swims, qualifying all three relays, two in the top six and four individual swims, three in the top six.
“It was kind of a roller-coaster meet because there were some more people we would like to have qualified, but our relays came through and so did Gia Dalesandro and Courtney Taylor in their individual events,” King said.
The Wildcats’ 200 medley relay team that featured, Dalesdanro, Taylor, April Niccolai and Maggie Maxstadt finished sixth with a time of 1:46.22.
“Our goal last week was just to get everyone qualified,” said Taylor, who also finished 10th in the 100 breaststroke. “We were all pointing to state. And today we had a lot of adrenaline, with the excitement of the race and all the fans cheering for us.”
“The race we had in the 200 medley will give us confidence for the finals,” Dalesandro said. “I think we can drop some more time tomorrow.”
The winner of that race, Fenwick, set a state record with a1:42.50.
Olivia Smoliga of Glenbrook South also shattered the state record in both the 50 and 100 freestyle.
King was particularly happy with the performance of the Wildcats’ 400 freestyle relay team of Riley Schroedter, Tara Blanzy, Megan Childs and Dalesandro that finished fifth in 3:30.39.
“It was a great way to end the meet,” King said. “This was a goal of mine all season, for us to finish top six in the 400. We’ve been a little off in that race and I knew we had the ability to do it. They just put it together.”
Dalesandro finished second in the 100 butterfly ahead of local products Genna Heidkamp of Hinsdale Central, (third), Connie Hsu of Glenbard West co-op (fourth) and Jen Law of Naperville North, who was sixth.
Taylor was sixth in the 200 IM, and she qualified for today’s consolation bracket, finishing 10th in the 100 breaststroke. The Wildcats’ 10th-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay also put that team in Saturday’s consolation heat.
Downers Grove North’s Gabby Sims won the 100 backstroke in 55.21 in Friday’s prelim with Maya Skorupski of West Chicago finishing third and Dalesandro fourth.
Rachel Prorok of Naperville North was third in the 100 breaststroke in 1:04.83, and Megan Sellers of Metea Valley finished fifth.
“In the other heats I was watching a lot of girls going 1:05, so I knew I had to get into the 1:04s to make it to the top six,” Prorok said. “This race will give me a lot of confidence for tomorrow.”
In the 200 freestyle Hsu was fourth and Maddy Sims of Downers Grove North finished sixth.
Megan Downey of Downers Grove North, Taylor Kramer of Benet and Taylor Eggenberger of Waubonsie Valley finished fifth, sixth and seventh and will return for the diving finals Saturday.
Julia Roller of Naperville Central was fourth in the 500 freestyle
The Downers Grove North 400 freestyle relay team finished fourth and the Trojans 200 freestyle relay team was sixth.