Girls swimming: Neuqua Valley set up for big finish at state
There are good days at IHSA girls swimming preliminaries and then there are days like Neuqua Valley put together on Friday in Evanston - a near-perfect evening of swimming and diving that propelled the Wildcats into the unofficial top spot entering today's finals.
Points aren't scored until those finals begin at 11 a.m. Saturday, but unofficially, the Wildcats lead three-time defending champion Rosary by 7 points (171-164.) What those totals mean is that the Beads and Wildcats are in a two-horse race to the state title in what figures to be one of the best finals days in girls swimming in years.
"We never talked about what it takes to be Top 6 or what it takes to make it back," Neuqua Valley coach Jason Niforatos said. "We didn't put any pressure on these girls other than, 'We're just here to race for our team' and we wanted to race on Friday like it was Saturday."
All three of Neuqua Valley's relays qualified for Saturday's Top 6 championship final. The Wildcats have a further nine individual swims - and Samantha Carlson stands seventh in diving. Swimming qualifiers included: Rachel Stege (200 freestyle, 500 freestyle), Maxine Parkinson (200 IM, 100 breaststroke), Megan Cieczak (50 freestyle), Tiffanie Ruan (100 freestyle), Athena Salafatinos (100 backstroke) and Divya Kale (100 breaststroke).
"Everyone showed up in a different way," Niforatos said. "We were led by three seniors who have never scored individually - Rachel Stege, Athena Salafatinos and Divya Kale. I feel that they've been on a mission since last season and this summer. It's transferred over to this season. Their leadership and focus helped with the younger ones. We have a very talented group of underclassmen, but it's very well led by our seniors."
For half of Friday's prelims, Metea Valley had only McKenna Stone's qualifications as bright spots - though the sophomore's swims were superb - the second fastest in the 50 freestyle and third best in the 100 freestyle.
Then the Mustangs' 200 freestyle relay swam its way to the championship final. Kellie Willhite advanced to the consolation final in the 100 breaststroke and the 400 freestyle relay also moved to the championship final. Metea Valley's strong finish will give the Mustangs significant hope entering the finals.
"I think we expected a little more out of our medley relay and the girls were a little disappointed," Metea Valley coach Mark Jager said. "But they fought back into the back half of the meet and we have two relays that are sitting very nicely right now. The 200 free relay proved to themselves that they've got what it takes to be here and that they deserve to be here."
The impression watching the 400 freestyle relay was that the team was relaxed after the 200 freestyle relay, and Jager didn't disagree.
"I think they figured it out," Jager said. "This is a really hard meet to compete in, and they fought through it and did well and put themselves in a good spot."
Naperville Central has five finals entries, all of which will compete in the consolation final of their respective events. In addition to the 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay, the Redhawks have Alexa Puccini and Paige Collins swimming in the 100 freestyle and Lisa Johnson swimming in the 100 backstroke.
"We were hoping to have maybe a couple more swims, but honestly, any time you get five swims in the state meet finals, that's pretty good. There are some teams that have none," Naperville Central coach Mike Adams said.
The parity in this year's meet is near an all-time high. For example, the difference in prelims times between the six swimmers in the consolation heat of the 100 breaststroke was 0.31 seconds, and that sort of evenness moved across all races.
"This meet is not for the faint of heart," Adams said. "If you make a mistake or if you're off a little here or there, you're going to pay for it."
The Glenbard West-South co-op is set up to score significant points on Saturday. Sophomore Kate Morris was the fastest qualifier in the 200 freestyle and she also swims in the championship final of the 100 freestyle. The team's 200 medley relay also qualified for Saturday's consolation final.
West Chicago, a co-op team that includes swimmers from Batavia and Geneva, advanced Kelly Sego to the consolation final in both the 200 IM and 100 backstroke. The Wildcats' 200 medley relay also advanced to Saturday's consolation final.
"We've been swimming really well and (Sego) was putting up some really good times this week in practice, so we sort of saw it coming. The medley relay, we figured that if we maintained what we did last week at the sectional that we'd make it."
Willowbrook's Elissa Haake qualified for the 200 freestyle consolation final.
Hinsdale Central advanced all three of its relays to the consolation final while Anna Glowniak swims in the championship final of the 100 breaststroke and Anna Gruvberger swims in the consolation final of the 100 butterfly.