Cicchini paces Neuqua swimmers to win

Updated: March 23, 2011 9:54AM

Rob Cicchini is Neuqua Valley's "Mr. Versatility," and he showed that at Tuesday's dual swim meet against visiting Metea Valley.

Cicchini, who is emerging as one of the keys to the Wildcats' postseason plans, won the 100 butterfly, swam on the victorious 400 freestyle relay team and finished second in the 100 backstroke, as Neuqua won all 12 events to brush by a young Mustangs team 124-59.

"Robbie is a well-rounded swimmer who can swim any stroke," said Neuqua Valley coach Chad Allen. "He's so equal in the butterfly, backstroke and breaststroke that we still don't know what his second event will be besides the IM. He's a guy who has kind of been in the background the past two years. Now he's a leader and one of our main guys."

"I'm ready to do anything the team needs me to do," said Cicchini. "The freestyle is one of my weaker events, but I'll work hard to improve if they need me for a freestyle relay."

Allen believes that Cicchini, a senior, is capable of stepping into that freestyle role.

"He's really come alive the past few weeks and we're really looking for him to take that next step," said Allen. "He could be on the freestyle relay. His freestyle is better than he thinks. He can be very good at it. He just needs a little more confidence."

The coach was also impressed by the work of Kevin Patterson who won the 100 freestyle.

"This is Kevin's first year on varsity and he's doing a nice job," said Allen. "He was really great in the back half of that race."

Kevin Cordes won both the 100 breaststroke and the 50 freestyle, Conner Jager was first in both the 500 freestyle and the 100 backstroke, John Mordach won the 200 IM and Robert Vechiola was the winner of the 200 freestyle.

Ted Wagner was No. 1 in the diving competition.

"This was a solid meet for us," said Allen. "It was the first time we met Metea Valley in a varsity dual meet, and we did pretty well across the board."

Metea Valley coach Mark Jager admitted that he would have liked to see his team put up more of a challenge, but he was encouraged by some of his team's results.

"Mike Stack is coming around and Zack McClernon, who swam some off-events today, is strong all-around," said Jager. "And Nick Pulgine is making progress in the 500 free after being away from the water for so long because of an injury. We're seeing a lot of little things develop, but the guys are tired at this point from all the training. We expect to have a good taper."

Jager believes that this meet is the beginning of what he knows will grow into a strong rivalry between the two Indian Prairie high schools.

"Everything we do this year on varsity is for the first time," Jager said. "We're still new. This is a starting point."

Waubonsie Valley 85, Bartlett 68 - The Warriors got wins from Adam Stacklin in the 200 freestyle (1:53.41), Stephen Ernst in the 200 IM (2:13.03), Tyler Hunt in the 50 freestyle (22.9), Steven Tan in the 100 butterfly (55.67) and Adam Trotter in the 100 breaststroke (1:07.89). Waubonsie also won the 200 medley relay (1:46.31) and the 400 freestyle relay (3:30.70).

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