Hinsdale Central laps field at Neuqua Valley

With three events to go at Saturday's 22nd annual Neuqua Valley varsity swim invitational, Hinsdale Central had amassed a whopping 518 points.

When asked if any team had a chance to catch the Red Devils, coach Bob Barber just smiled.

“We're done,” he said, and they were.

Hinsdale Central easily won the meet with 685 points, well ahead of runner-up Waubonsie Valley, with 328. Host Neuqua Valley was third with 239.50, and Naperville Central was fourth with 219.50.

You need depth to win any swim meet, and the Red Devils had more than enough, placing two swimmers or two relays in the top four of every single event except two.

Perhaps the most impressive event of the day for Hinsdale Central was the 100 butterfly, where Jeffrey Hou won it in 50.69 seconds, Nous Bertulis was second at 51.73 and Henry Guo was fourth with 53.11. Naperville North's Ethan Herscher broke up the trifecta bid by finishing third at 53.01. Again, depth is key.

“It's definitely one our strengths, and we know that,” Bertulis said. “Coming into the meet, we expected to lose some events, but we knew we have a lot of numbers, which meant a lot of points.”

Bertulis (52.94) and Guo (54.72) went 1-2 in the 100 backstroke, while the 200 freestyle relay's A and B teams did the same in 1:26.71 and 1:28.34, respectively.

Individually speaking, Metea Valley senior Jaedden Gamilla excelled, breaking his own meet record in the 200 individual medley in 1:52.69, and also won the 100 breaststroke in 56.06.

“Obviously, I'm really proud of it, but I may be a little too hard on myself, because I know there are things I can work on,” Gamilla said of his IM.

This meet shows off the top talent in the western suburbs, and would also be a mini-state meet if you added some of the powerful north shore squads. Nevertheless, Neuqua Valley coach Chad Allen said those teams are watching.

“They're definitely looking at our results for sure,” Allen said. “We tend to intermingle a little bit at the Evanston meet and the New Trier meet, where we'll go there, some of the Naperville schools, Hinsdale Central, St. Charles North. That will be another level.”

Allen couldn't help but be pleased with junior Alex Parkinson, who took the early lead in the 500 freestyle and won it running away in 4:41.39, well ahead of Hinsdale Central runner-up Nate Harris at 4:54.38. The Red Devils' Noah Pelinkovic finished third in 4:55.11

“I always like to take it out fast early, and I'm very good at maintaining speed, and I use that to my advantage,” said Parkinson, who also took second in the 200 freestyle in 1:46.32.

Waubonsie Valley got good swims out of Tyler Bardak and Shaun Bahl, who went 3-4 in the 100 backstroke. Bahl also led off the 200 medley relay, which took third in 1:37.57.

“I think it was a really good day for me, and more importantly as a team,” Bahl said. “There was really tough competition out there, but as a team we showed grit and we powered through it.”

St. Charles East was sixth with 177 points, and was led by diver Jake Scailise, third with 361.45 points. St. Charles North was eighth with 157 points, and got a solid swim from Stephen DelBello, third in the 100 back in 56.20.