No. 1 is fun for Neuqua Valley
The Neuqua Valley boys swimming team acted like anything but a rookie in its first year as a member of the DuPage Valley Conference.
On Saturday Neuqua won the two freestyle relays and four individual races to capture the conference championship, following in the footsteps of the Neuqua girls team, which swam away with the title in its inaugural DVC campaign in the fall.
"The girls set the tone," said the Wildcats' Joey Dalesandro, who won both the 50 and the 200 freestyle races and anchored both winning free relays. "Everyone showed up today. Watch out for us at the end of the season. We're starting to get hot."
"We knew it would be a three-team race with Naperville Central and Waubonsie Valley, and they'll both be strong at sectionals and state," said Neuqua Valley coach Chad Allen. "But this proves we're headed in the right direction."
The Wildcats also got wins in the 100 breaststroke, where Michael Peters outraced the field with a time of 100.29 and in the 500 freestyle courtesy of a victory by freshman Jack Hiss in 4:49.15, three seconds ahead of teammate Jacob Cunningham who finished second.
Dalesandro and Peters were joined by Matt Ciezczak and John Ruan to win the 200 free relay in a pool-record 1:25.70. Ciezczak, Kyri Chen, Ruan and Dalesandro brought home the gold in the 400 freestyle relay in 3:11.47.
Dalesandro swam a 21.78 followed by Ciezczak's 22.00 to give the Wildcats a one-two finish in the 50. Dalesandro went 1:44.04 to win the 200 freestyle.
"It's nice to have good times in-season without being rested," Dalesandro said.
Dalesandro will have to choose two freestyle races from the 50, 100 and 200 for sectionals in two weeks.
"We did great with the relays when we finished eighth at state last year," Dalesandro said. "But I want to score some points individually this year."
"Our free relays were really solid today," Allen said. "We're going into sectionals with a hot hand in relays. We have five or six guys who can do it in each relay and we'll go with our best four."
Naperville Central's Scott Piper came up with a pair of victories, winning the 200 IM in 1:55.66 and the 100 backstroke in 52.51.
Waubonsie Valley scored three wins. Michael Schwers swam a 51.36 for the championship in the 100 fly, and Eric Weng took first place in the 100 freestyle in 47.69.
The Warriors also won the 200 medley relay with Jared Simpson, Cole Steffl, Schwers and Ethan Morse turning in a time of 1:37.03.
Wheaton co-op's Luke Cooperman was the DVC diving champion with a score of 460.95.
"Luke has been winning all year and we expect him to do well at state," said Wheaton swimming coach Jacob Ayers. "He finished 10th last year, and a top-six finish is a realistic goal."
Neuqua Valley scored 364 points to win the conference title, followed by Naperville Central, which had 339, and Waubonsie Valley was a close third with 334.
"We've been surprising people all year long," Dalesandro said. "We didn't get a lot of respect last year and we finished eighth. We're planning on showing up this year and doing better. This is exciting."