DQ ends Neuqua Valley’s invitational streak
Neuqua Valley boys swimming coach Chad Allen got everything he wanted out of Saturday’s 29th annual West Chicago Wildcat Relays except a team victory in the meet Neuqua has dominated for more than a decade.
That team victory disappeared after Neuqua Valley ostensibly won the final race of the day, the 400 freestyle relay, but suffered a disqualification, which gave the event to second-place Waubonsie Valley and the meet win to Lockport in what was the closest team standings in the history of the meet.
Lockport finished with 139 points just 2 ahead of second-place Stagg and 3 ahead of Neuqua Valley. IMSA was fourth with 120, and Waubonsie Valley was fifth with 117.
“It took us nine events to catch up,” said Neuqua Valley coach Chad Allen. “And all we had to do was finish the last race to wrap it up. And it was a nice race. That hurt, because we were trying to keep the streak alive and we just let it slip away.”
But despite the disappointment, there was plenty to be encouraged about the Neuqua Valley performance, as Allen and his staff work to build a young team to the high standards that were set by previous squads that finished in the top three at state four years in a row, before last year’s eighth-place finish.
They got some great time drops and a great deal of competitive racing from the few returning veterans and from members of a talented group of underclassmen, who hold the key to Neuqua Valley eventually returning to compete with the best at state.
First among the positives was Robert Vechiola, one of only two returning Neuqua Valley swimmers, along with Jerry Wu is the other, who swam at state last year.
Vechiola and teammates James Tidd, Drew Dvorchak, and Kevin Patterson won the 400 medley relay, a race in which all four swimmers had the opportunity to display their proficiency in all four strokes, in 3:53:03.
“That race shows that we have a lot of versatility on this team,” Vechiola said. “That will give the coach more options when it comes to choosing the sectional team.”
Vechiola, along with Alex Thoele, Tidd and Ian Ivkovich combined to win the 200 backstroke relay in 1:43.80
Finally, Vechiola anchored the unfortunate 400 freestyle relay team.
“Robert was probably our swimmer of the meet today,” Allen said. “He’s been looking solid in practice and has really taken a leadership position on the team.”
“This is different from other years where we pretty much knew what the sectional team was going to be and we just had to fill in the gaps,” Vechiola said. “This year we still have a lot to do in order to build to that point. I would like to score in two events. Right now I’m looking at possibly the 100 free, the 200 free and the 100 backstroke. But, I’ll swim anything the team needs.”