The Naperville North High School girls swimming team lost to crosstown rival Naperville Central High School on Tuesday, Sept. 20.

The Redhawks defeated the Huskies with a final score of 102 to 81 points.

The Huskies started the meet off strong, taking the victory in the 200-yard medley relay. The teams were neck and neck for most of the meet, both winning key events. For the Huskies, senior Aimee DuHamel won the 100-yard butterfly, 100-yard individual medley, and was part of the winning 200-yard medley relay, and senior Caroline Pendlay won the 500-yard freestyle. Looking ahead to the rest of the season, head coach Andrew McWhirter explains where there is room for improvement.

“Tuesday meets are a little tough coming off the weekend… we had some good swims out there…[but] we need to spend some time working on our starts and exploding off the wall,” McWhirter said.

Following some initial losses, the team picked up momentum and finished with wins in five events. However, Central’s strong swims proved too difficult for the Huskies to overtake. Duhamel talks about how the team collectively pushed through the tough competition to finish the meet strong.

“Everyone did really good and the energy was just super exciting. When one of us starts doing well, we feed off that energy and… we all do better,” Duhamel said.

Despite the loss, the team rallied around each other throughout the entire meet. The supportive atmosphere of their home pool contributed to the team’s ability to persevere against the strong opponent. Senior captain Melissa Patterson discusses how being at North contributed to the team mindset.

“This was only our second home meet so it was a lot of fun just to race Central here at our own pool. Everyone was pretty excited going into it, just a great team atmosphere,” Patterson said.

Outside of the pool, this meet was a combined fundraising event for both schools, raising money and awareness for pediatric and breast cancer. In addition to wearing special yellow swim caps, the teams raised $1,350 for the cancer research foundation, Cal’s Angels. Patterson explains how this event was special to the team.

“It’s really cool because we get to raise a lot of money for a great cause and do what we love to do: swim. It’s just a great way to raise money for something that’s so important and affects a lot of people,” Patterson said.

The Huskies will compete next at the Rosary Invite at Marmion Academy on Saturday, Sept. 24. The first event is set to begin at 9 a.m.