Boys swimming: Invitational plays to Neuqua Valley's strength
How elite is the Neuqua Valley boys swimming invitational? Five of the top 10 team finishers at last season's state meet competed in Saturday's edition.
And the hosts used their depth to their advantage to win the team title with 414 points. St. Charles East was second at 317 and Waubonsie Valley took third with 299.
Hinsdale Central was fourth with Naperville Central, Naperville North, St. Charles North, Metea Valley, Lincoln-Way East, Lockport, Lincoln-Way Central and West Aurora rounding out the final team standings.
"It's the type of meet that plays to our strength. We're really deep and with allowing more than one relay entry, you can find yourself scoring 40 points in an event," said Neuqua coach Chad Allen.
The Wildcats won four events, two individual races and two relays. Kyri Chen won the 50-yard freestyle.
"This meet is big on a team effort. The emphasis is on team and everyone was on track today," Chen said.
His time of 21.61 seconds was faster than his seed mark of 22.22.
"My time isn't a priority. It's good to see that I'm still going fast. My focus is to be the fastest at the end of the season," he said.
Freshman Connor Boyle won the 100 freestyle in 48.13, just edging teammate John Ruan's time of 48.23.
"The team worked to the best of their ability," Boyle said.
Neuqua's two relay wins came in the 200 freestyle where Chen, Sathya Subramanian, Ruan and Boyle clocked a 1:27.10. The final event of the day, the 400 freestyle relay, was won by Ruan, Brandon Chelstrom, Chen and Boyle in 3:14.53. Jack Hiss swam to second in the 500 freestyle.
"There were some awesome swimmers at last year's state meet here today. You can't win this with just a few guys," Allen said.
St. Charles East won the diving competition held Friday. Joey Scimeca scored 420.65 points. In Saturday's racing the Saints earned two second-place medals thanks to Sean Yetter in the 100 breaststroke and the 200 freestyle relay of Mitch Milosch, Harrison Hollman, Matt Nagler and Garrett Prybell.
Third-place finishes went to Nagler in the 100 freestyle, Prybell in the 100 breaststroke and the 400 freestyle relay of Hollman, Milosch, Nagler and Kyle Lewarchick.
"I'm very happy with how they performed. We knew it would be tough, but we stepped up and we've been consistent in what we've been doing all season," said Saints coach Adam Musial. "This was the first big invitational of the season. We're testing the waters and trying different things out."
Jared Simpson was a double winner for Waubonsie, setting a meet record of 1:53.73 in the 200 individual medley and he prevailed in the 100 backstroke in 52.48. Teammate Bryan Ellig won the 100 breaststroke in 1:00.65, and teammate Aayush Deshpande was victorious in the 200 freestyle with a 1:44.61. Lucas Conrads was also third in the 500 freestyle as was the 200 freestyle relay of Cole Steffl, Deshpande, Jake Darlinger and Simpson.
Naperville North went home with the individual title in the 100 butterfly as Horace Qiao took control in 50.65. Qiao was third in the 200 IM as was the 200 medley relay of Noah Ellis, Josh Tak, Qiao and Joey Yuan.
St. Charles North won the first event of the day, the 200 medley relay, and set a new meet record of 1:35.62 thanks to the efforts of Srboljub Filipovic, William Myhre, Nathaniel Baxter and Ricky Williams. Myhre was second in the 200 IM and 100 butterfly.
Metea Valley earned a top-three finish with Michael Chan placing third in the 100 backstroke.