With a new coach for the first time in five years and two state championships in the last two years, New Trier’s girls swimming and diving team ended the regular season last week with an impeccable 11-0 record and high hopes of bringing home a third consecutive state championship for the team’s 100th anniversary.
The Trevians added an eleventh and final victory to their already perfect dual meet record last Friday, Oct. 26 with a 135-51 win over Maine South. Among the highlights of Friday’s meet were first-place finishes in individual events by seniors Anna Peterson, Jessie Sutherland and Stephanie Marchuk, junior Juliette Corboy, sophomore Nicole Retondo and freshman Julia Green, as well as nine individual second-place finishes and seven individual third-place finishes to secure an easy lead over Maine South’s Bulldogs.
This victory marks the end of yet another undefeated season for the girls team, continuing an undefeated streak that the team has maintained since 2006; an impressive 66-0 thus far.
Despite the ever-present threat of ending their six-year streak at last Friday’s meet against Maine South, head coach Mac Guy says that succeeding at that meet was hardly the team’s main concern.
“Friday’s meet was a unique meet for us,” Guy said. “Maine South is a good team, but we’re trying to rest our girls for the end of the season and focus on state.”
With such a long history of success and following two consecutive state championships, the Trevians have come to accept that their season continues even when the regular season draws to a close, leading the team to begin post-season preparations long before their last meet.
With a large number of returning swimmers from last year and with such an impressive dual meet record, this season the team looks to carry on the legacy of New Trier’s excellence. Senior diver Sidney Tan attributes this history of success to the New Trier community’s continued dedication to swimming outside of the regular season.
“Outside training is really important,” Tan said. “These sports are year-round sports, you have to do them offseason and participate in a club if you want to be good during your season.”
Guy agrees, adding that “The community is really dedicated to swimming at a high level. That dedication is manifested in all of our great swim clubs and all the other offseason commitments that our swimmers make.”
Until now, the team’s success has been largely attributed to longtime coach Bruce Woodbury, who coached the Trevians through 17 seasons and eleven state championships before being inducted into the Illinois Swimming Hall of Fame earlier this year. Following his retirement at the end of the 2011-2012 season, Mac Guy, who had previously worked as an assistant coach for the team, stepped into the position of head coach. Despite following in the wake of such a legendary coach, Guy says he has not let the pressure of continuing Woodbury’s success get to him.
“Of course there was pressure having won the last 2 titles and with so many returning seniors,” Guy said, “but I’ve really enjoyed it and the community has been really welcoming and supportive.”
The pressure was also felt by the team’s returning swimmers, especially for many of this year’s seniors who had trained under Woodbury for their entire swimming careers at New Trier.
“It’s hard for a lot of the seniors who are used to coach Woodbury having to transition to coach Guy because it’s a different atmosphere,” Tan says. Senior swimmer Lindsey Siegel added that Woodbury and Guy both possess very distinct coaching styles, which only added to the difficulty in transitioning into the beginning of this season.
“Coach Guy focuses more on mental swimming and the tenants of spirit, mind and body,” Siegel said, “while Woodbury focused far more on physical training and getting the swimmers to the place they needed to be physically.”
Despite this transition, the Trevians have proven so far that they are as strong a team under Guy as they had been under Woodbury, while their hopes for bringing home another state title are stronger than ever.
“You can really feel the focus ramp up as we head into the end of the season,” Guy said, adding that “a lot of the girls are losing sleep. We’re all just excited to get in there at sectionals and swim fast.”