Naperville Central girls swimming outlasts Naperville North

It’s homecoming week for District 203, as Naperville North girls swimming hosts Naperville Central in a key DVC matchup.  The Redhawks enter the season 1-1 in conference play after losing last week to Neuqua Valley at home and now travel on the road for the first time this year. 

This match also features the presentation of the Cal’s Angels fundraiser, dedicated to providing cancer research and fundraising led by the Redhawk and Huskie team captains. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.

Naperville North girls swimming opens with two wins in the 200-yard categories

We start with the 200-yard medley relay, in which two groups of Central swimmers take on four North groups. The Redhawks would put up a challenge being outmanned, but their efforts are just short, as the North group of Abby Pobozny, Tasha Mantel, Mallika Putakham, and Payton Schrier wins with a time of 1:52.68.  

The first individual race of the day sees seven swimmers go head to head in the 200-yard freestyle race.  The Huskies continue their hot start in this match as Pobozny gets an individual win to go with her relay win, edging out Avery Meisenheimer from Central by two seconds.  

The Redhawks began to piece it together in the 200-yard IM. A field of five made up the race, and Natalie Vogel got things rolling for Central. She outswam Jules Swatland by a little over a second, picking up the individual win.  

Naperville Central girls swimming starts to pick it up

The swim of good fortune would continue for Central in the 50-yard freestyle relay.  A full pool of eight swimmers would compete, but six of them would watch Lauren Eschmeyer outswim teammate Alexa Goldstone by .06 to give Central another match win.  

Things pick up later with the 100-yard freestyle.  Another nailbiting finish between Central teammates takes place, as lane two stays on top with Yinung Hsu nosing Goldstone by just .08 for another Redhawk match win.  

Now onto the longest race of the day, the 500-yard freestyle.  Naperville Central continues its strong stretch as Avery Meisenheimer gets redemption as she outpaces the competition by six seconds giving another win for the Redhawks. Payton Schrier is North’s top finisher in third place

The Redhawks outpace the Huskies for a DVC win

Back to the relays we go with the 200-yard freestyle relay.  This would come down to the wire between North in lane three and Central in lane four in the closest finish of the match, but in the end the Redhawk quad of Eschmeyer, Vogel, Goldstone, and Lily Jia beats out the Huskies by just .05 seconds.  

Now back to the individuals with the 100-yard backstroke.  North looks to get back in the conversations as Pobozny goes neck and neck with Hsu trying to get the point, but in the end, Hsu gets the better of Pobozny and wins by just .12 seconds for another Redhawk triumph.  After some more back and forth Naperville Central gets the crosstown win with a 127-75 showing over Naperville North, improving to 2-1 on the season.