Neuqua Valley High School to Host Inaugural Dual Meet Challlenge
Illinois high school swimming will see a new style of swim meet on Dec. 30 as Neuqua Valley High School hosts the inaugural Illinois Dual Meet Challenge, an event designed to spotlight head-to-head racing and bring a fresh competitive format to the winter schedule. The meet is the first of its kind in the state, offering teams a high-energy matchup during winter break.
“A coach and I used to talk about the difference between a good dual-meet team versus a good state-meet team,” said Chad Allen, Neuqua Valley’s Head Boys Swim Coach. “I then saw a four-team bracket they did for college and decided to make it a one-day, eight-team event since most teams can’t give up two days in high school.”
Teams will be seeded using a unique 400-yard medley relay — an eight-leg relay (two backstroke, two breaststroke, two butterfly, two freestyle) used solely to determine bracket placement and break ties. From there, each squad will swim two full dual meets, with altered events and strict lineup limits: a maximum of two individual events and three total per dual meet. Scoring is entirely matchup-based, with each lane pairing worth a point and relays worth two, creating constant suspense as brackets progress toward a championship round.
“I think it will put a lot more emphasis on your third person or relay for each event since they get just as many points,” said Allen. “In an invite, the third person rarely even scores and now they will be super important. Every swim will count and it will make it a one-on-one matchup throughout the meet that will make it interesting.”
Although this meet is poised to be a unique experience for both coaches and athletes, Allen is maintaining a cautious approach to repeating this format in future years.
“I don’t think we have an interest of doing it every year, but I know some coaches have talked about maybe repeating it on occasion if it all goes well,” Allen said. “I think we want to see how it goes before we commit to the future. I can see other top teams wanting to do something in the future. Good teams change year to year, so I could see similar formats in the future. I think having teams that are of similar ability is very important to make it work.”
