On Feb. 22, New Trier’s Boys Swimming and Diving Team won by an amazing upset at the Niles North IHSA Sectionals with a ton of highlights.

Pearce Bailey bested the qualifying time by .38 seconds and took 2nd place in 50-meter freestyle. Matt Gibson placed 1st in 100-yard butterfly as well as the 100-yard backstroke, and with Saturday’s IHSA State fast approaching, New Trier ended up taking 1st place overall.

The team edged out rivals Loyola 273 to 272. The swimmers had times that allowed them to qualify for state in 13 separate events. And with the season coming to a climactic end soon, some of the top varsity swimmers were riding their confidence into the state finals.

Senior Sam Dienstag fell in love with aquatics at the age of 7, and that passion allowed him to rack up some big wins, like placing 4th in the 200-yard freestyle and qualifying for IHSA State 3 times.

“I’m pretty confident that we can win big at state, but there’s a lot to look out for, like Loyola,” Dienstag said. “They’ve got some of the best swimmers I’ve ever competed with, but they’re also really sociable and I’ve had fun with them despite the rivalry.”

Since Saturday’s state tournament marks the end of the swimming and diving season for both the boys and girls team, a lot of swimmers had landmark moments for the 2019-2020 season.

Sophomore diver John Ervin, who placed 3rd in the 1-meter dive, got into swimming and diving at a young age thanks to his time taking lessons with current diving coach, Bruce Kimball. Almost a decade later, he’s taking inspiration from his fellow diving team members.

“My favorite memory of this season was probably when our only senior on the team, Simone Okun, set a new personal best for himself,” Ervin recounted. “He’s been on the team for 3 years, and he’s got such a positive spirit that seeing him succeed was great for all of us.”

While the team’s top swimmers are confident about getting the top spot on the podium at the IHSA State tournament, some on the team are a lot more dialed back with their goals.

Josh Runkle has been the head coach of boys swimming and diving at New Trier for 23 years, and his feelings pertaining to state are much more cautious.

“I don’t really think we’ll end up coming home with the biggest trophies, because our swimmers aren’t as strong as those from schools like Glenbrook South,” Runkle said. “My goal for the sectionals tournament was to get as many kids through as we can, and get as many kids in the top 10 as we can at state, and that’s what I think our swimmers can pull off.”

Despite the more cautious mindset that Coach Runkle has, the swimmers themselves are more than confident they can win even bigger than top 10 state tournament on Saturday at Evanston.

A prime example is Matt Gibson, a sophomore swimmer and one of the biggest winners at the IHSA sectionals, who knows that sectionals was just the beginning of the end. He believes that the progress the swim team has made since last year is going to serve them well and that they’re going to triumph at Evanston.

“I think we are a really solid group this year and we’ve come a long way from last year,” Gibson said. “I think we will really surprise everyone at state because we have solid swimmers all around and great coaches. It’ll be very fun to see how it turns out.”

Even against tough rivals like GBS or Loyola, New Trier’s Swimming and Diving team has clearly shown that they have what it takes to succeed where it matters most.