Girls swimming and diving: Neuqua Valley digs deep to win Sandburg invitational

It was a grueling week in the water and Saturday's meet at Sandburg was winding down, so Neuqua Valley junior Megan Ciezczak and her teammates were admittedly a little exhausted.

But when it was time for Ciezczak to anchor the 400-yard freestyle relay, she found the inspiration needed to help the Wildcats close the meet with a thrilling victory in a down-to-the-wire finish.

Tiffanie Ruan closed the gap on St. Ignatius with a strong third leg of the race and then Ciezczak pushed Neuqua into the lead and hung on for a winning time of 3:36.39 that barely edged both St. Ignatius and Rosary.

"We were all tired because it was a rough week of training," she said. "So it was kind of hard in the beginning because it was like a come on guys one more race thing. But when I got in the block, my teammate Tiffanie was in front of me, and she was like closing the gap … I just felt more adrenaline and I knew I needed to win it for my team. It was scary (close). I was like bring it home; don't let it up yet."

It was a great ending to a great meet for the defending state champs, who topped the 12-team field even with all-stater Rachel Stege absent while making a college visit. Neuqua Valley scored 342 points, with St. Ignatius second at 240, Rosary third at 171 and Naperville Central fourth with 128 points.

"We trained really hard this morning before we came here so this was really like let's see how tough we are," Wildcats coach Jason Niforatos said. "Hopefully, this will be a huge momentum boost for these next coming weeks. The nice part about it is we've got about 99 percent of our team back. We're missing Rachel Stege, but this was the part I was most excited for is when we've got these really great athletes going on visits on the weekends, to see who's stepping up and who's contributing."

Sophomore Abby Jensen stepped in to lead off the 400 free relay and was followed by Izzy Harder and then Ruan and Ciezczak. The final was just one of many highlights in the meet for Neuqua, which started strong by going 1-2 in Friday's diving. Elle Jacobsen won the diving with a sore of 419.55, while teammate Jane Riehs took second at 407.60.

Swimmer Maxine Parkinson had a big day for the champs, taking first in the 200 IM with a time of 2:08.54. She also teamed up with Ciezczak, Harder and Jensen to edge Edwardsville for first place in the 200 free relay, 1:40.04 to 1:40.46.

"This week has been a really hard week. I'm going to be honest. The times don't really matter to us now," said Parkinson, echoing the sentiments of her teammate.

That said, picking up another invite victory feels good for a program with high expectations, even if many stars have departed from last year's state titlists.

"This year is not the same as last year," she said. "It takes a lot to get through, even my head, that we have a lot of people who aren't here and are swimming in college now. Coach says the target on our back is getting bigger and bigger as the season goes on. At meets like this it gets bigger."

Rosary, second to the Wildcats at last year's state meet, had its share of big moments Saturday and none were bigger than those turned in by junior Jessica Geriane. She helped the Beads win the 200 medley relay in a pool record time and also broke a pair of pool records held by former Andrew standout and Olympian Christine Magnuson.

Geriane won the 100 free with a record time of 51.89 and the 100 back in 56.45, with both times erasing 2002 records set by Magnuson.

"Jess had a good day," Rosary coach Glenn Brown said in an understatement. "She's had an eventful season so far where recruiting trips have taken its toll. Juniors are being recruited at this time, and this is actually our first Saturday invite that she's been a part of."

Geriane swam in the Beads first dual meet this season and then missed all previous Saturday competitions while visiting colleges.

"It's nice having her in the pool. We look like a much better team with her in the pool," Brown said.

For Naperville Central, senior Alexa Puccini won the 100 butterfly in 57.75, while Neuqua's Sophie Meng was second.