Boys Swimming: Waubonsie Valley expects return of state qualifier Adam Stacklin

Updated: December 13, 2011 7:40PM

Waubonsie Valley coach Nick Arens expects returning state qualifier Adam Stacklin to return to competition by the end of December from an upper back injury that has kept him out of action this season.

“Adam has been in the water but he’s been taking it easy,” said Arens. “But he should be back to full strength in two weeks.”

The coach calls Stacklin, who qualified for state in both the 50 freestyle and the 100 butterfly last year, “the centerpiece of the team.”

“We’ve missed Adam in the water,” said Arens. “But, a lot of guys are stepping up at practice and in meets doing everything they can to get themselves to the next level.”

Among those who have excelled are sprint freestylers Joey Poletto and Mike McWhirter and the versatile Stephen Ernst, who were all members of two winning relay teams at the West Chicago Wildcat Relays last Saturday.

Arens expects Poletto and McWhirter to qualify for state, while Ernst is a possibility in two of the 100 butterfly, the 100 breaststroke the 200 IM.

The coach thinks the Warriors’ 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams have a good chance to make it to state.

Naperville North coach Andy McWhirter was happy with his team’s second-place finish at the Barrington Relays on Saturday.

“We won both the frosh-soph 200 free and the varsity 400 free relays and we had several second-place finishes,” McWhirter said. “They were both great come-from-behind wins.”

Among those singled out for the coaches praise were sophomore Andrew Rocco, who swam on the frosh-soph relay and was moved up to the varsity after the meet, and Garrett Nash, a sophomore who was behind when he took over the fourth leg of the 200 freestyle relay, and chased down the opposition to get the Huskies to the finish line first.

Others on that frosh-soph relay team were sophomore Steven Missack and freshman Joe Cardot.

Senior Chris Dionesotes, who swam the 400 freestyle with state qualifiers Tom Hubbard, Kevin Butz and Nick Bessler, also added to his pool cred.

“Rocco and Dionesotes really came through in that meet,” said McWhirter. “We wouldn’t have gotten second at the relays without their hard work and contributions.”

Naperville Central coach Mike Adams sees his Redhawks improving a little every day.

In Saturday’s Barrington Relays the Redhawks finished fifth and the results included victories by established state qualifiers Nate Weeks, who won the 100 butterfly, and Sean Lehane, the 100 backstroke state champion last year, who continued his winning ways in that event.

Lehane, Noah Wood, David Johnson and David Ortega combined to finish third in the 800 freestyle relay.

“We lost so many people to graduation that we’re just starting to get things figured out,” said Naperville Central coach Mike Adams. “We’re getting better but we’re still a work in progress.”

Robert Vechiola continues to be the bellwether of the Neuqua Valley team that is also working to replace a host of graduated stars.

At Saturday’s West Chicago Relays he swam on two winning teams and anchored a third that won the 400 freestyle relay, but suffered a disqualification.

The Wildcats had won the meet six years in a row before finishing a very close third last Saturday.

Vechiola and Jerry Wu are the only two Wildcats returning who swam at state last year.

But Vechiola sees a bright future for a number of solid underclassmen.

“They’re working hard and getting used to training at the varsity level,” Vechiola said of his teammates. “Now, we’re just trying to see how many people we can get to state, and we’re trying to fill the open spots on the relays. But we have a good group of swimmers who show a lot of promise.”

Coach Chad Allen believes sophomore Drew Dvorchak and freshmen James Tidd and Ian Ivkovich are among those he expects to move up a level this year and join Vechiola to form the team’s nucleus.

More college updates: Neuqua Valley diver Ted Wagner is a freshman at Notre Dame...Waubonsie Valley’s Jim Zuponeck is a junior at Duke...Waubonsie Valley’s Tyler Hunt is playing water polo at the University of La Verne in California.

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