Girls’ Swimming is the latest sport to dive into the postseason, with Naperville Central hosting the DVC Championships. The Wildcats of Neuqua Valley wish to win a third straight title, but the conference is full of great swimmers looking to get a big win before sectionals start next month. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.
Neuqua Valley girls swimming win multiple 200-yard events
Let’s start with the 200 Medley Relay. In Lane 7 at the top of your screen, it’s DeKalb, coming down from there it’s Waubonsie’s Bella Plude in Lane 6, Naperville Central in Lane 5, Neuqua in Lane 4, North in Lane 3, and Metea in Lane 2. As they make the first turn, it’s Natalie Sierzanowski in the lead with DeKalb’s Molly Allison close by.
Marissa Kondrasheva helps build a lead for Neuqua as they pull ahead into senior Sophia LaBarre’s turn. LaBarre reacts quickly and is off to the races. She uses her butterfly expertise to propel the Wildcats ahead by a quarter of the pool.
And here is Emily Wu bringing things home for the Wildcats who take first in the relay over Waubonsie and Central with a time of 1:48.66.
Let’s check out the 200-Yard Free now. Ava Wallin of Neuqua Valley is pacing the bunch in lane 5 as the swimmers finish their first 50. Off the flip, she extends her lead by a body length going into the halfway point.
By the end she is all by herself, as the junior finishes with a 1:57:53, garnering another win for the Wildcats. Waubonsie Sophomore Malini Madiman comes in second and Central swimmer Avery Meisenheimer finishes third.
Naperville area schools look to dethrone Neuqua but the Cats keep on winning
Let’s take a look at the 500-yard free event. Ava Wallin of Neuqua has built a massive lead to build off her impressive 200 free. Wallin wins with a time of 5:13.67 for her second win of the day. Panning over you can see Abbery Brown of Waubonsie just barely edge Metea’s Molly Schalk who gets third in the best finish for the Mustangs on the day.
Onto the quickest race of them all. The 50 Free sees Carolina Piater and Crystal Yu of Neuqua neck and neck with Anna Honcharuk and Calin Ball of Waubonsie. Everyone is right by each other as they make the turn into the last stretch. It’s still too close to call out of the turn as the swimmers make their way down in the closest race of the day. Piater and Yu start to pull ahead of the Waubonsie Swimmers in the middle lanes. Piater in Lane 3 inches closer and closer and comes in first with a time of 24.84, three tenths of a second quicker than her teammate Yu.
Bear with me on one last individual freestyle event. The 100-yard free is Carolina Piater’s chance at redemption after a close second place in the 50. But DeKalb’s Molly Allison is right next to the Wildcat sophomore. You can see them as the two black caps at the bottom of the screen. Waubonsie’s Honcharuk is in the lane above.
In the last 25 yards, the same swimmers are mirror images of one another. Piater and Allison are extremely tight and as they hit the wall it’s Piater with a 54.38 that edges out the 54.82 of Allison. Honcharuk comes in third for Waubonsie.
Naperville North’s Tasha Mantel is one of the individuals to win a DVC race
100 Yard Fly is the next event. Neuqua’s LaBarre and Waubonsie’s Bella Plude are first and second in the middle lanes with LaBarre inching ahead into the first flip turn. Central’s Lauren Eschmeyer in lane 3 is right behind.
In the final stretch, LaBarre has a good lead with Plude and Eschmeyer coming in right after her. LaBarre’s winning time is 58.09. Neuqua’s winning ways continue in the individual events.
It’s tight across the board in the 100-yard backstroke finals. Shannon Tsu of Central, Wu, Plude, Neuqua’s Charley Satlak, Allison, and Central’s Alaina Barrett are all competing well into the first turn.
Into the final stretch, we go and Plude, Wu, and Tsu are the few closest at the top. Tsu gets ahead by just a bit and hits the wall first with a time of 1:01.11, inching out Wu by 2-tenths of a second, and Central gets onto the winner’s podium.
In the 100-yard breaststroke, Tasha Mantel and Sofia Piater got a good lead after the first two laps. In the final stretch, Mantel extends her lead, Piater follows with Neuqua’s Alice Meng and Central’s Macy Fults filling out the third and fourth results.
Neuqua Valley girls swimming closes the day with a 400-yard free win and the DVC title
In the last event of the day, the 400-yard freestyle brings the heat. LaBarre starts things off for Neuqua, with Ball starting for Waubonsie. Avery Meisenheimer is in lane 6 at the top for Central and Makayla Paulding is leading off for the Mustangs in Lane 2. It’s Neuqua off to the races with the other three teams close together behind.
Neuqua has no trouble pulling ahead with a 3:37.21. Waubonsie comes in second, Central in third and Metea in fourth.
In the end, The Neuqua Valley Wildcats won’t be denied their third straight girls swimming DVC Title. Waubonsie comes in second place, the hosts Central in third, North in fourth, Metea in fifth, and DeKalb in sixth. Sectionals begin in two weeks.
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