The road to state swims through Metea Valley. The home squad Mustangs host the 2026 girls DVC champion Neuqua Valley Wildcats along with Waubonsie Valley, Naperville North, and Naperville Central, along with more of the area’s best in the sectional round. They all share the same goal of keeping their seasons alive and qualifying for the state championship meet. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.
Naperville Central snags the first relay
Naperville Central gets off to a good start, winning the 200-yard medley relay. Alexa Goldstone, Molly Moore, Maddie Saccameno, and Lily Wolski make up the victorious crew. The rest of the area schools qualify as well, with Waubonsie finishing second and Metea in third.
In heat three of four in the 200-yard freestyle, Waubonsie Valley sophomore Madelyn Hartsell and junior Wildcat from Neuqua Valley Annika Anderson both finish under the 1:56.11 qualifying time to make it to state. In the final heat of the event, Carolina Piater represents Neuqua as the sectional champion. Metea’s Alyssa Rivero snags fourth and also secures a state spot.
Paige Kowal of Rosary College Prep, who finished third as a team at state a year ago, wins convincingly in the 200-yard Individual Medley. Vera Skubiak from Oswego East takes second. Wildcat sophomore Sophie Diorio gets third and qualifies, as do a pair of Warriors in senior Abbey Brown and freshman Malika Madiman.
Olivia Linduska with a pair of first-place finishes in her home pool
After getting second behind Sofia Piater in the 50-yard freestyle in the DVC Championship, Mustang sophomore Olivia Linduska gets her revenge on the Neuqua senior and wins the sectional title by three-hundredths of a second. Piater gets the silver, Redhawk Goldstone claims the bronze, and her teammate Wolski is fifth, with Gianna Capeless from Rosary in between. All five are moving on to state.
Eight swimmers qualify for the big dance in the 100-yard butterfly, six of them from the Naperville schools. Annabelle Nawrocki wears the first overall crown for Rosary. Brown of Waubonsie is second, Wildcat Taylor Tuch ends in third, Central’s Natalie Wesolowski is fourth. She’s followed by a couple of freshmen, Huskie Ella Hanson and Jelenna Gamilla for the Mustangs. Madiman from Waubonsie is the final qualifier.
It’s almost a straight DVC sweep in the 100-yard freestyle. Olivia Linduska claims her second event title, narrowly besting North’s Delaney Lund by less than a second. Rivero is the third swimmer, and Warrior Estelle Castaneda in fifth, also moves on.
Kowal from Rosary champions another event; this time it’s the 500-yard Freestyle. Five, six, and seven are the finishing positions for qualifiers Carolina Piater and Anderson of Neuqua, and Redhawk sophomore Lily Potter.
In the 200-yard freestyle relay, it’s Rosary that takes the gold with a time of 1:35.15. Neuqua Valley is second, Metea gets third, North, Waubonsie, and Central round out the qualifying teams.
Twenty-eight hundredths of a second is all Goldstone of the Redhawks needs to edge out Nawrocki as she reigns victorious as the 100-yard backstroke champion. Sofia Piater hits the wall in third place and now owns another state qualification.
The 100-yard Breaststroke gives state-hopeful swimmers the most trouble of the afternoon. Only three from this sectional are able to beat the qualifying time of 1:07.40. The DuPage Valley flexes its muscles as its swimmers claim every spot. Waubonsie’s Brooklyn Landtiser is the event victor; fellow Warrior Aubrey Talaga gets second; Moore from Central grabs third.
Neuqua Valley wins first swimming sectional since 2020
Rosary continues their relay dominance as they win their second one of the day, this one closing out the meet in the 400-yard freestyle. 3:37. is the time to beat if you want to head to state; Neuqua, Central, and Waubonsie do just that. The Wildcats snag second place in the 400, the Redhawks tap the wall behind them, and the Warriors end in the five spot. Naperville North squeezes their relay team into state with a sixth-place time of 3:37.
Neuqua Valley is the 2026 sectional champions after an outstanding Saturday in the Metea pool. Waubonsie Valley is second with Rosary in third. The Wildcats and the rest of the qualifying DVC swimmers will compete one last time next Friday & Saturday at the state championship meet at the FMC Natatorium at Ty Warner Park in Westmont.
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