Marmion wins invitational in final race
There was a little bit under the Christmas tree for everyone at Saturday’s Naperville North College Events Meet.
While Marmion took five events to win, Waubonsie Valley and Naperville Central each won three and host Naperville North won two.
The Cadets finished with 157 points in the final standings needing a victory in the 800 freestyle relay, the last race of the day, to overtake the Warriors and the Redhawks, who went into that race tied for first.
Waubonsie finished with 149 points, Naperville Central with 140 and Naperville North with 129.
The Warriors got victories from Adam Stacklin in the 50 freestyle, Nathan Morris in the 500 freestyle and the team of Stacklin, Michael McWhirter, Kelvin Newton and Bradin Krug in the 200 freestyle relay.
“All of our guys are stepping up in meets,” said Stacklin, who missed practice all week with the flu. “We have a lot of people who are competing for positions for sectional and state.”
“We have good depth and versatility. More and more of our guys are doing a lot of acceptable swims in a number of events,” said Waubonsie coach Nick Arens. “We have to figure out a way to turn those to excellent swims. As far as the postseason is concerned, a lot of things are still up in the air, but I like the possibilities.”
Naperville Central’s Noah Wood won the 1000 freestyle, Connor Lamb won the 200 breaststroke and Joe Gucwa won the diving competition.
“In the 1000 I like to focus on working on the back half,” Wood said. “You have to take the first 500 a little easy and then lay the hammer down and catch the guys you let get away from you. It’s fun chasing those guys down. You have to make sure you don’t lose it and get tired halfway.”
“Noah had a great swim,” said Naperville Central coach Mike Adams. “He won against a really good field. He’s putting it together and getting better all the time. It’s nice to see.”
Senior Sam Hiller accounted for the Huskies’ two victories, winning both the 200 freestyle and the 200 backstroke.
“This meet is one of the hardest we have because of the longer distances,” Hiller said. “In the first 100 of those races, I have to be strong on my stroke and not as fast with my speed. But it’s all about the finish. I have to treat the second 100 as if it’s a 50 and go all out for the finish. Even though I’m tired I have to pick up the arm speed.”
Marmion coach Bill Schalz was really pleased with his team’s victory and the work of many of his athletes.
“Last year when we started the season we hadn’t worked a lot in the off-season and we weren’t in shape,” Schalz said. “But these guys worked hard and were ready to go from the first day. At this point everyone’s a little tired. But I told the guys that this meet is about winning races. If you want to get up for the state meet, you have to win races during the season. It doesn’t indicate how well you’ll do at state, but today was an indicator that our guys are racing well.”
Besides the 800 free relay, the Cadets also won the 400 medley relay, and Schalz got wins from Jonathan Thielen in the 400 IM, Dan Creighton in the 2000 butterfly and Mike Burke in the 100 freestyle.
Theilen, Burke, Josh Kanute and Robert Ramoska made up the lineup in both winning relays.