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Swimming: Neuqua Valley swims past Lake Park
| Corey R. Minkanic~For Sun-Times Media
Updated: January 26, 2012 9:26PM
Neuqua Valley’s victory in the 200 freestyle relay at Thursday’s dual meet was a fitting celebration of senior night,
Swimming in the last home meet of their high school careers, the relay team of seniors Robert Vechiola, Adam Spinola, Kevin Patterson and Charlie Lockridge edged Lake Park in 1:32-31 to help lead the Wildcats to a 127-59 win over Lake Park.
“That win really felt great,” said Spinola, who swam on all three A relays on Thursday. “We’re all good friends and we’ve been teammates for four years, but we never had a race like that where we’ve all been together. The fact that it was senior night made it extra special.”
This year we had four strong seniors to put together,” said Neuqua Valley coach Chad Allen. “Adam may not be on our sectional or state team, but when you need him to step up he always does. He really swam strong today putting up some of the best times of his career. We’re looking forward to seeing what he does at that conference meet next week.”
The Wildcats final home meet had some other highlights which included a tie between senior Vechiola and freshman Tidd who were co-winners of the 100 breaststroke in 1:04.57.
“On the last turn I saw that he was with me,” said Tidd. “I couldn’t let him win and I didn’t want him to lose, so we tied.”
“James is a great breaststroker and one of the best sprinters on the team,” said Vechiola.
“They both can do it all,” said Allen. “It’s pretty fitting it ended in a tie.”
Vechiola and James Tidd were both the lone victors in their other individual race, as Tidd finished first in the 200 IM and Vechiola won the 50 free.
Jerry Wu, who qualified for state last year in the 100 butterfly, won that race easily with a 54.05.
His goal is to score some points for Neuqua at state by finishing in the top 12.
“I’m building my momentum as the year goes along to make sure that I peak at state,” said Wu. “I want to contribute to the team in the butterfly and in the medley relay. I have a couple of weeks to taper and I want to work on my endurance as much as I can.”
“Jerry is a very talented flyer and he’s starting to get more focus as we get closer to state,” said Allen. “Last year he qualified, but this year he really feels as though he belongs. The past couple of weeks he’s really taken it up a notch in practice.”
Lockridge won the 100 freestyle for the Wildcats with a time of 50.63 and Brian DePuy won the first varsity event of his career doing the 500 free in 5:01.63.
“Brian is the hardest worker on our team,” said Allen. “He’s constantly got his motor going. He’s much faster this year. Hopefully, the other guys will see what a difference hard work can make.”
The Wildcats also won the 200 medley relay as Alex Thoele, Tidd, Wu and Dan Tarte finished in 1:45.05
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