Boys swim and dive blows Evanston out of water
Swim team manages to stay afloat amidst spike in COVID
The New Trier boys swim team does a pre-game chant before beating ETHS at a home meet on Jan. 21
On Jan. 21, the New Trier boys swim and dive won on all three levels against Evanston Township High School at the Winnetka campus.
Despite the win, close races in which the winners were differentiated by mere milliseconds dominated the event.
In the varsity 200 yard free, ETHS took first place with a time of 1:45:15 and New Trier’s Ward Wilson placed second at 1:45:20. In the varsity 100 yard fly, Matt Gibson won by 11 milliseconds, creating a buzzing and boisterous atmosphere in the natatorium.
As the racers swam back to their touchpads, inches ahead of one another, all sides of the pool erupted out of their seats with an occasional whistle or a “Go New Trier!”.
“Basically every meet, I will be at the other end of the pool with half of my team cheering whoever is swimming,” JV2 swimmer Arian Naghshineh said. “Every meet that I go to, the one thing I can count on is being with my friends and cheering them on during the races.”
In the end, the scores were close: junior varsity 2 scored 107 points of 170 total points, junior varsity scored 105 of 180, and varsity scored 104 of 186.
“Evanston had some really good swims on that team, but we just had really good players,” Naghshineh said.
So far, the team feels that their biggest competition will be Stevenson High School, who beat the freshman and varsity teams on Jan. 22.
“Stevenson High School has a very strong swim team and are similar to New Trier in a lot of things,” varsity swimmer Aiden Musick said. “I would say we’re pretty neck and neck at this point.”
One of the biggest obstacles to the season so far has not been a rival but a global pandemic. As COVID cases have surged in January on local, state, and national levels, the team has been actively trying to reduce the number of cases that affect them.
As of now, any students engaging in extracurricular programs like Athletics, Performing Arts, and Student Activities are required to submit a spit sample through the University of Illinois Shield Testing program.
On Dec. 17, a meet at Highland Park was cancelled 15 minutes into the meet after two students from Highland Park tested positive for COVID. Yet the team feels confident in their ability to prevent future COVID cases.
“The coaches are really proactive in keeping our masks up and they encourage us to wear our masks as much as possible,” JV swimmer Caleb Sim said.
As the swim season progresses, Head Coach Josh Runkle wants to focus on providing more meets for swimmers and focusing on small details and adjustments.
“I think we can be a team at the state meet to make a big impact, but right now our focus is just getting there,” Runkle said. “For us, it’s taking one meet one day at a time.”