After months of hard work and vigorous training, the boys varsity swim team made history, winning the Illinois State title for the third year in a row.
Both senior Reed Malone and junior Jae Park took away a pair of individual victories, Malone winning the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle and Park winning the 200-yard IM and the 100-yard breaststroke.
Both swimmers were the first Trevians to win both of those events at one meet, setting a new standard for the already incredibly successful program.
The team altogether had a championship performance, finishing with a total of 189 points. Runners-up Hinsdale Central (96) and Lake Forest (93) trailed behind by a hefty margin.
The team lived up to its performance at sectionals by setting five pool records at GBS. However, with the varsity swimming reputation, sectionals are just seen as a warm up for state by most of the team.
“Sectionals, especially for our team, is just our qualifier,” said senior swimmer Denver Freeman. “It is a really nerve racking meet, but we know its just a stepping stone to get us to the state meet.” The team proved this by scoring nearly as many points as the second and third place teams combined.
The Trevians have now won state seven times in the past decade, having won it now three times straight. The team lost a very strong senior class this past year, which only made them focus more on working hard and improving their times.
“The team this year compared to last year has lost some depth, and I think everyone has recognized that,” said Park, “and with this in the back of all our minds we have all really stepped up.”
In order to improve on their performance from sectionals, the team went through the process of tapering at the end of the season. “Tapering is when we do less yardage and focus more on short, fast swimming,” said senior Reed Malone. “This helps our bodies feel rested so we can perform at higher levels.”
The team cut out their morning practice during their taper, and focused on resting. The aim was to get their bodies ready to swim at its full potential. “Usually its a time to perfect the little things in your races and gain some speed,” said senior Jack Mangan. He competed in the 100-yard freestyle, finishing sixth, as well as in the 100-yard backstroke, finishing fifth.
Not only did the swimmers taper, but they also shaved to cut down on their times. Shaving and tapering have proven to be very helpful in cutting down the times. According to coach Mark Onstott, “Time drops of 2-4 seconds per hundred are not unusual” after tapering and shaving.
This means that the swimmers should theoretically be a lot faster in their state meets than they were at sectionals.
Besides tapering and shaving, the team focused on visualizing the results they want and keeping their nerves in check. “One thing I’ll try my best is to not get too nervous. For past two years, I would freak out at this point of time,” said Park.
Park hoped to score points for his team at state, something he hadn’t been able to do before, which is something he accomplished.
Visualizing the race is something that helps some of the swimmers focus. Freeman stressed how important confidence is at a competition like state. “If I walk up to the block at the state meet second guessing myself, I know that I won’t perform my best,” he said.
There were two days of the state competition, prelims and finals. The qualifying swimmers from sectionals first swam in the prelims in order to qualify for the finals. The Trevians were able to advance seven individual swimmers and all three relays to the finals on Saturday.
The team that accumulates the most points from each individual swim event and relay wins the overall competition, so the more swimmers a team has qualified, the better the teams chances are. “Our main goal at state is to win,” said Malone. And win is what they did.