As state champions three years in a row, New Trier Boys Swimming and Diving Team has an intense season to beat. Head Swim Coach Mark Onstott said, “We’re right at the point where we’re figuring out the lineups for the end of the year. We have a lot of guys who are very close to each other as far as time and performance.” The New Trier Boys Swim Team has a very hard and vigorous schedule. Practicing two times a day, 5-6 days of the week, and having at least two swim meets a week is certainly time consuming.
According to Coach Onstott, “The first four weeks of season were rough but the last four or five have been much better after winter break.” The team has faced challenges in the first few weeks, particularly their loses against Hinsdale Central and Naperville Central.
Onstott said, “The loses were not much of a surprise because both teams are a big competition; however, we did beat Hinsdale Central at Trev Relays and the Red Devil Invite, which were good signs leading us in the right direction.”
Trevian Relays were a big success for the New Trier Boys Team this year. Some of the boys’ best times were Jae Park with a 1.52.0 in the 200IM, and the 400 free relay with a time of 3.12.2 (Murphy McQuet, Tommy Jiang, Connor Fotsch, and Jae Park). Senior team captain Connor Fotsch said, “I wasn’t expecting our team to swim as well as we did. We had guys swim near to, or at, their best times. It was a great way to boost confidence to see that our hard work is paying off well.”
Another senior and captain, Matthew Weiser said, “Going into it we knew it would be a hard meet with Libertyville, Hinsdale Central, and Evanston. It took everyone to swim fast to win the meet. However, after the teams captain speeches, our team knew we had to protect our house. It was Coach O’s last Trev relay meet.”
The Evanston meet at New Trier High school on January 10th was another big competition for the team. Facing a team that may not be a top rivalry was still not a guaranteed victory. Junior swimmer, Murphy McQuet said, “The Evanston meet was very unexpected because we did not think we would win as many points as we did. Everyone swam very fast.” Murphy McQuet swam a 1.43.8 in the 200 free, and a 51.6 in the 100 fly. Jae Park swam a 1.53 in the 200IM.
Although New Trier Swim and Dive Team has faced bumps in the road during its current season, they’re not ready to give up. The Freshman and Junior Varsity team has just began its taper, preparing them for the freshman conference on February 8th, the Junior Varsity Invitational on February 11th, the junior varsity and varsity conference on February 14-15th, varsity sectionals on February 22nd, and the varsity state meet on February 28th and March 1st.
Head boys swim coach, Mark Onstott, will be retiring year after twenty years of working at New Trier. Captain Matthew Weiser said, “I’m well aware of the fact that Coach O’s leaving will make a big hole in the program. He’s been our leader for 20 years, so naturally that will occur. As a senior who is also leaving this year, I have to say that my view on his leaving is that we feel obligated to win for state for him this year. I don’t feel that his absence will cause a problem in the coming years because we are a solid team with a great, young core in people like Walter, Srivastava, Drake, Robertson, Kinsella, Mech, Sharpee, Ingle, Keenan, and McQuet. They are a great group of hard workers and they’ll be fine and continue the winning tradition no matter who becomes the coach.”
Regarding Coach Onstott’s last year as the New Trier boys swim and dive coach, he said, “Winning state isn’t important to me. It’s about the boys. We have a group of guys working hard who have a goal of being a state champion, and that’s what’s important. It’s not important because it’s my last year. What’s important is that we do the best we can do. Some of my early teams in my first year working here placed 20th or 21st in state. This current group of guys literally leaves it all in the pool, and gets everything they can out of it.”
Captain Connor Fotsch said, “I don’t know if we will win state or not, but it is certainly our teams goal, there’s no denying that. But above that is swimming well and to our fullest. As Coach O stated, “I’d rather have us lose pretty, than win ugly.”
New Trier’s Swimming and Diving program has been undefeated for years now. According to Onstott, the biggest challenge left is that, “It’s 100 pieces that have to be fit into the puzzle. Making sure we can do everything we can for everyone of those guys, while doing everything we can to make sure it works for the team can be challenging.”
Captain Connor Fotsch states, “Our most challenging meet was our dual against Hinsdale Central. Because we lost, it was a pretty big hit to out confidence. But with hard work and heads down work ethic, we have powered back to be one of the, if not the best, team in Illinois.”