The Mustangs and Huskies clash in the pool as Metea Valley welcomes in Naperville North. Both squads are looking to leave their mark in early DVC matches. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.
The Huskies lead early
Action begins with the 200-yard medley relay. The Mustang crew in lane five looks to start the meet with a convincing victory, but is disqualified. This gives Naperville North the win, thanks to their fourth-lane squad of Madison Borelli, Rianne Kehoe, Nora Devaney, and Kate Vonnahme. Metea anchor in lane three, Rylee Rhoads, touches the wall just over a second later for silver.
The 200-yard freestyle kicks off a stellar night for North’s Sofie Rutkowski. Commanding the waters in lane six, she narrowly beats out her teammate Ella Hanson by twenty-two hundredths of a second. Rutkowski isn’t done putting on a show as another race for her comes down to the final stretch of her fingertips. This time edging out Metea’s Jelenna Gamilla by three tenths of a second in the 100-yard butterfly.
Aly Rivero of the Mustangs is the 200-yard individual medley victor with time to spare. Behind her, Madison Borrelli of North claims the next spot by only two hundredths of a second from Mustang Rachel Carter. The Rivero show continues throughout the evening. She reigns at the top of the 100-yard freestyle podium and prevails in the 200-yard freestyle relay with help from her running mates, Ellen Chua, Gamilla, and Olivia Linduska.
A three-way race to the wall in the 50-yard freestyle ends with Linduska on top. North’s Vonnahme grabs second, and another Metea Valley swimmer cracks the top three as Chua claims third.
Naperville North swims to a 20-point victory
The longest event of the day, the 500-yard freestyle, awards Metea Valley’s Leah Wojciechowski as champion, who dominates with a time of just over five minutes and fifty-four seconds.
To the homestretch of the meet. Chua takes gold in the 100-yard backstroke. She’s followed by Huskie Jane Freeman and Metea’s Gamilla.
Naperville North has their paws all over the 100-yard breaststroke. Laney Lund brings home the top spot, as fellow Huskies Kehoe and Elisa Alonso secure third and fourth. Carter of Metea Valley finishes behind Lund by less than a second.
The 400-yard freestyle relay closes out action. Naperville North finishes strong, going first and second in the event. The top Huskie relay team is opened by Hanson; she holds a slim lead over teammate Borelli going into the second leg. Rutkowski and Vonnahme keep the advantage for their anchor Lund, who clinches the win for the Blue and Orange. Naperville’s Borelli, Adeline McKenna, Peyton Wikman and Nora Devaney ensue the top pack.
Naperville North triumphs on the road over Metea Valley with a team score of 95-75.
