Dalesandro leads Neuqua Valley

Updated: September 24, 2011 3:42PM

Neuqua Valley swimmer Gia Dalesandro had a breakout season in 2010, finishing fourth in the 100-yard backstroke and 10th in the 100 freestyle at the state meet.

The junior appears headed for an even better showing this year and her team could be in line for a breakout performance.

Dalesandro won the backstroke in 58.57 and the 100 butterfly in 56.92 at Saturday’s Rosary Invitational, helping the Wildcats to the team title with 377.5 points. Rosary, which had won the meet every year since its inception in 2006, was a distant second with 293 points and Naperville Central took third with 270.

Rosary was without senior Molly Coonce, the reigning state breaststroke champion, who was on a recruiting trip to Wyoming, but Neuqua’s depth still would have been too much to overcome.

“The depth is amazing,” Dalesandro said. “We push each other more in practice and I think us pushing each other is making us that much better.

“[Rosary] was missing Coonce and she’s a huge part of their team, so I don’t think we can take anything too seriously right now, but [winning] is a great confidence-booster.”

Dalesandro teamed with Courtney Taylor, April Niccolai and Maggie Maxstadt to win the 200 medley relay (1:49.18). Neuqua’s 200 free relay of Dalesandro, Riley Schroedter, Tara Blanzy and Megan Childs was second.

“I have very high expectations in terms of what [Dalesandro] can do and how she can help us out, not only individually but in relays,” said first-year Neuqua Valley coach Brandon King, who was celebrating his 24th birthday. “It’s amazing to have her because she is so versatile. I can literally put her in anything and there’s a pretty good chance she’s going to be right there [close] to beating whoever is on the other team.”

The Wildcats got top-three finishes in all but one event. Blanzy (25.20), Schroedter and Maxstadt went 1-2-3 in the 50 free, while Taylor was second in the 200 IM and 100 breast, Schroedter was runner-up in the 100 free and Childs took third in the 200 free and 100 breast.

Rachel Burke, one of seven Rosary seniors who are being recruited by Division I schools, paced the Beads by capturing the 100 free (53.32) and 200 free (1:54.43), breaking her own meet record in the latter, and anchoring Sarah Sykstus, Erin Hart and Emily Launer to victory in the 400 free relay in a meet-record 3:35.91.

“Depth definitely makes a difference for our team because we’re so small, so missing one person changes all our relays, but I think as a team we got up and raced and we did the best that we could,” Burke said. “All the girls have been working so hard. Our practices this week were so hard, but I think everyone swam really well for how tired they were.”

Sykstus was the only other individual winner for the Beads, taking the 200 IM in 2:08.41.

“We’re not a deep team,” Rosary coach Bill Schalz said. “We’re a team that’s not going to win a lot of invites because we’re not as deep, but we’ve got some really top-end talent.”

Naperville North’s Rachel Prorok broke the meet record in the breaststroke, timing 1:06.72, while Naperville Central’s Julia Roller won the 500 free in 5:09.81.

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