Naperville North secures a challenge from two swim teams at their home turf in a triangular competition, with Benet Academy and Metea Valley showing up for this showdown. Metea Valley is coming off a DVC loss to Neuqua Valley, while Benet Academy also comes off a loss to Fenwick Academy, and Naperville North placed third at the George Klumb Memorial College Events Invitational. Which means all three teams have a chance to bounce back and build momentum as we head towards the end of the season. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.
200 Medley Relay goes to the Huskies
Kicking the event off with the 200 medley relay. Naperville North’s Joshua Leu makes it to the wall first, but Benet Academy’s Alex Gastolek is close behind. By the end of the relay, Huskies Max Fedorovskiy and Carter Seiple swam strongly to set up teammate Kevin Chen for the first-place finish and a time of 1:38.78. Benet Academy’s team of Gastolek, Ben Dewart, Jim Campbell, and Henry Koppenhoefer finish second with 1:41.68, with Naperville North B taking third just six seconds behind, and Metea Valley claiming fourth.
Now it’s the 200 free, and this time Benet Academy’s Aiden Erickson hits off the wall first, with Naperville North’s Allen Xu and Metea Valley’s Jonas Reddington close behind. But Erickson secures victory by a seven-second lead for the Redhawks, with a time of 1:52.75, followed by Xu and Reddington.
Diving into the 50 free with a narrow race between all three schools, Mustang Colin Louden is tailed by Redwings Campbell and Koppenhoefer, but Louden comes out on top by .3 seconds for Metea Valley! His first-place finish is 22.39 seconds, followed by Campbell with 22.63 and Koppenhoefer with 23.02.
The 100 fly starts off with Naperville North’s Carter Seiple and Max Fedorovskiy leading the pack. The Huskies carry that pack lead to the finish, with Seiple scoring the top finish with 54.74 and Fedorovskiy barely behind with 54.97. Redwing Erickson is three seconds behind in third.
It’s time for the long haul in the 500 free competition, where Colin Louden takes a commanding lead early on. But two Huskies Grayson Dean and Kevin Chen, are fighting to get ahead. By the end, Louden is ten seconds in front of the competition and secures first place for Metea Valley with a time of 4:58. Naperville North secures second and third with Dean’s time of 5:11 and Chen’s time of 5:16.
Swimmers hit the water for the 100 backstroke, and on the turnaround, it’s Benet Academy’s Alex Gastolek out in front, while Allen Xu from North and Alex Bounds from Metea are neck and neck just behind. Gastolek maintains his lead to the finish for Benet with a time of 57.49 with Metea’s Bounds taking second and a 58.43 finish, and North’s Xu in third with 59.24.
Naperville North secures trifecta victory
We finish this event with the 100 breaststroke, where Benet Academy has two swimmers in front with Campbell and Dewart, but Naperville North’s Ben Hanson pulls ahead just before the 50 turnaround! Though the Redwings are close behind, Naperville North secures the win as Hanson claims the top spot for the Huskies! His final time is 1:03.26 for a North victory, while Benet sees Campbell and Dewart finish closely in second and third with 1:05.13 and 1:05.57, respectively.
Naperville North secures the trifecta victory, finishing ahead of both Benet Academy and Metea Valley. Huskies triumph over Metea 103-64, and 99-76 over Benet Academy. Meanwhile, Benet claims victory over Metea Valley with a score of 93-68.
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