It’s senior night for Naperville Central girls swimming, as they have eight seniors competing in their final home meet. The stands are filled with many family members and classmates in support of the Redhawks. Taking on Central is Metea Valley as the Mustangs look to bounce back after a loss to Naperville North last week. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.
Naperville Central opens the night with three wins
We start things off with the 200-yard medley relay, as the Mustangs outnumber the Redhawks three teams to two. It’s no problem for the Redhawks as the lane 5 team of Mikayla Belisario, Macy Fults, Lauren Eschmeyer, and Alexa Goldstone win the first race with an overall time of 1:54.05.
The first individual match of the night is the 200-yard freestyle event, and the Redhawks pick up right where they left off as Maddie Malinger holds off Emily Schalk of the Mustangs, to give Central another win with a 2:03.97 finish.
Next race up is the 200-yard IM, as Belisario would make it a two-for-two in races she’s competed in so far, she holds off a rally from Rylee Rhoads of Metea, winning with an overall time of 2:20. 47.
Mustang Allison Leslie takes first in 50-yard free
The Mustangs would get on the win collum before the diving break, as Allison Leslie picks up where she left off last Thursday in the 50-yard free, pacing the field and edging Lauren Eschmeyer and Alexa Goldstone to win with a time of 25.51.
Eschmeyer would get redemption however, as we jump to the end of the 100-yard butterfly. It goes down to the wire between her and Emily Schalk, as Schalk comes up short by .12 seconds and Eschmeyer gets another victory for the Redhawks.
The closest match of the day comes from the longest event, the 500-yard freestyle as the swimmers get off the blocks. It would be a dead heat most of the race between Mustang, Molly Schalk, and Redhawk, Anna Zenow, as they battle neck and neck till the final stretch. Schalk gets to the wall first and edges Zenow by .09 seconds with an overall time of 5:30.45.
Central would pick things back up, in the 200-yard freestyle relay. It was fought most of the match between lane 4 of Metea and lane 5 of Central but the Redhawks scoot out front with the team of Eschmeyer, Goldstone, Natalie Vogel, and Lily Lia winning with a time of 1:42.65.
Metea would try to fight back in the 100-yard backstroke event, and you can see Leslie of Metea get out in front. Leslie puts the team on her back again in this race as she scoots ahead of Belisario and Yinung Hsu winning the race with a final time just over one minute.
Redhawks cruise to a senior night victory
Wrapping up our action in the 400-yard freestyle relay, the lane 5 Central team of Ellen Hoover, Malinger, Zenow, and Hsu get it done with final time of 3:51.20 as Naperville Central girls swimming dominate with a 124-61 win over the Mustangs.
For more prep sports highlights, visit the Naperville Sports Weekly page!
