Naperville Central slips past Metea Valley

Saturday’s Trojan Invitational at Downers Grove North belonged to the Naperville Central and Metea Valley boys swimming teams. Well, belonged might not be the right word. The teams owned it outright.

The Redhawks won the eight-team meet with 287 points, followed by Metea in second at 273 and Lyons Township a distant third with 158.

Naperville Central won seven events and the Mustangs four. In five events Metea and Naperville Central entries went 1-2.

But high school swimming is a big-picture sport, and while Saturday’s success was enjoyed, both teams didn’t let their eyes off that big picture. Sectional competition is just less than a month away.

“It’s a nice meet with good competition. But we’re here to race and do the best we can,” Naperville Central coach Mike Adams said. “All year we’ve been a work in progress, and the last three weeks we’ve been pretty good. The kids are pretty tired, but still there were some pretty good swims overall.”

Two Redhawks were a part of four victories and set two meet records.

Senior Sean Lehane, who said he hadn’t felt that well during Saturday morning practice, won the 200-freestyle in 1 minute, 46.88 seconds and then broke his own two-year record in winning the 100 backstroke in 51.06. He is the defending state champion in that event.

The Redhawks were second in state in 2011, and Lehane said the postseason getting closer is definite motivation.

“We’ve narrowed down our sectional and state lineups. Everybody is working hard and when our main goal of state is mentioned, it gets us pumped up,” he said.

Lehane, and Naperville Central’s other double winner, senior Nate Weeks, were each part of two winning relays. The two joined Pat Van Duerm and Connor Lamb to win the 200 medley relay in 1:40.83. Naperville Central won the day’s final event, the 400 freestyle relay, with Lehane, Weeks, Lamb and Noah Wood clocking in at 3:18.85.

Weeks broke a 12-year-old meet record in winning the 200 individual medley in 1:57.68. He also won the 100 butterfly.

“I’ve been practicing pretty hard. I’ve not hit my taper. There’s been some hard morning and afternoon practices,” Weeks said.

Wood was the other Naperville Central individual winner, taking the 500 freestyle in 4:57.51.

One of Metea’s wins came in the 200 freestyle relay where Trevor Sandberg, Cameron Weber, Alex Vass and Alex Walter got the gold with a 1:33.90. Alex Gidlow won the 50 freestyle, Matt Salerno the 100 freestyle and Michael Stack the 100 breaststroke.

The Mustangs were also proud of their second-place 400 freestyle relay finish. Walter, Gidlow, Salerno and Zack McClernon finished in 3:20.71 for a school record.

“They were pumped up to go against Central in that relay,” said assistant coach Chris Ranallo.

And like the Redhawks, the Mustangs are also thinking big picture.

“Ultimately, our biggest goals are conference, sectional and state. We stress that these (regular-season) competitions are stepping stonees for us. The guys are open to that and know what to do along the way,” Ranallo said.

Benet finished seventh Saturday. Top individual finisher was Peter Krzywosz. He finished second in the 100 freestyle and third in the 50 freestyle.