North Stars' busy week continues with win

There are nights when you just have to try to tough out a dual swim meet -- and Thursday was just such a night for both St. Charles North and Waubonsie Valley.

But even nights like this, when neither team was able to successfully transition from heavy training to superior racing, are important as both teams enter the final five weeks of the season.

"Everything looks like it's coming together for us," St. Charles North's Dan Stanek said. "It's like stitches are being sewn together. I think our team's bonded very well. It's going to be exciting at the end."

St. Charles North used a strong first half of the meet to claim a 100-85 Upstate Eight conference victory.

The meet was originally scheduled for Tuesday at St. Charles North, but was shifted to Thursday at Waubonsie Valley to give the North Stars a chance to finish their semester final exams.

"It's been a long week," St. Stanek said. "We've had finals and there's been a lot of stress. It's kind of good to let it all out in the water."

Stanek swam a strong leg in the 200-yard medley relay, was third in the 200 individual medley, fourth in the backstroke and swam a leg in one of the North Stars 400 medley relay teams.

"I swam so-so," Stanek said. "I had two that were a little bit off. It was tough managing practice and finals, but finals are over, so it's back to putting the focus on the swimming."

Waubonsie Valley had a strong back half to the meet and swept the events starting with the 200 freestyle relay through the meet-ending 400 freestyle relay.

Of the Warriors who had a strong meet was Mack King. The freshman set personal bests while he finished fifth in the 200 freestyle and second in the 500 freestyle.

"I think I did pretty well," King said. "I got some best times, which is pretty good for this time of the season. Everyone did pretty well today. I like swimming the longer races."

Both teams have an increased meet workload due to the meet rescheduling. Waubonsie Valley hosts DuPage Valley Conference power Naperville North on Friday night for its Senior Night dual meet.

"I like when things are closer together," King said. "I don't know why, but it makes it more intense when it's like that."

St. Charles North is host to its annual invitational meet on Saturday.

"We would like to win it, obviously," Stanek said. "We are going to have a lot of people watching us."