Editor’s Note: Kristan Kenney is the assistant sponsor for the New Trier News and an assistant coach for the girls swimming and diving team. She was not involved in the reporting, writing, or editing of this article. 

After winning conference and sectionals, the New Trier High School girls swimming and diving team will fight for the state title on Nov. 15-16 at FMC Natatorium in Westmont, Illinois. The Trevians, led by a group of nine senior swimmers and four senior divers, set seven pool records at sectionals as well as a team record in the 200 Free Relay. The team is highly driven this season, looking for victory after placing second last year to Rosary High School in the state meet.

The team’s overall consistency this season has been its strength, according to head coach Mac Guy. This consistency was apparent during Sept. 13 meet against Stevenson High School, where the team came out with a close victory against a team they had lost to for the two previous years. 

“Our girls really stuck with it,” Guy said. “They didn’t panic, stayed focused on trusting themselves and supporting each other. It was pretty cool.”

At the conference championships on Nov. 2 at Glenbrook South High School, the Trev’s won 22 of 24 of their events and set six meet records, propelling them conference victory. The team won two Medley Relays, the 200 Freestyle, the 200 Individual Medley, among numerous other events. At the same meet, senior Zara Bolton set a Central Suburban League varsity meet record in the 100 Fly with a time of 55.03 seconds. At the subsequent sectionals meet on Nov. 9 at Highland Park High School, seniors Maeve O’Donnell, Olivia Safarikova, Marin Shimkus, and Elyse Newlands set a team record of 1:33.22.

The numerous wins and new records are attributable to competitiveness and consistency in practice, which has been essential to performance during meets. 

“The way we have performed in practice over the course of the season is a testament to how they keep their end goals in mind every day,” Guy said. “It’s a lot of work to compete at an elite level in this sport. It’s a grind where your face is looking down at the bottom of the pool for a lot of hours.”

Despite the difficulties of high-level swimming, the team practices every day during the week, including Saturdays if there is not a meet, and lifts Tuesdays and Thursdays. During practice, the team pushes its speed during aerobic sets, where swimmers work to keep their heart rate high for long periods of time to build endurance. While the practices are difficult and push the team physically, the Trevs keep spirits high by cheering one another on, which is important to both performance and team culture.  

“It’s so easy to give up and be like, ‘I can’t do this anymore. I’ll just stop trying,’” senior swimmer Newlands said. “During that type of set, it’s important to just say, ‘you got this’ or ‘two more’ if you notice someone struggling.”

Through cheers, the team is able to maintain a healthy balance of competitiveness and supportiveness. Newlands believes that the backbone of the team is the ability to cheer everyone on, no matter the circumstances.

“We’ve worked a lot on confidence and positive self-talk,” Newlands said. “Being able to tell yourself you can do anything and working on that in the pool and cheering people on during a really hard set has become something that I think really pushed us to that next level.”

Senior Tierney Lenahan echoed the sense of family and closeness within the program. Lenahan, who moved to the area sophomore year, immediately felt welcomed by the team and coaches. She attributes some of the Trevs’ success to their connected and close team culture.

“At the beginning of the season, a goal of the seniors was to really make it a warm and welcoming environment, and I think that’s been going really well,” Lenahan said. “It’s been a great dynamic, and we’re all really close.”

Newlands, who was a member of the record breaking 200 Free Relay at sectionals, was really proud of the relay and felt that it was a reflection of the team’s hard work this season. 

“I feel like it gave our team a little bit more confidence and strength going into this weekend because we know what we can do already,” Newlands said. “It just corroborated that.”

Lenahan and Newlands both go into the state meet this tournament hoping for a win, but also for personal bests and to see the team’s efforts come to fruition. While both swimmers are continuing their collegiate careers at Duke University and Claremont McKenna College respectively, the family and support found in the New Trier swimming program has taught Lenahan the meaning of swimming beyond the pool: “It’s also about so much more like developing relationships and trust within coaches and teammates, and it’s really important to focus on the whole process and not just the times.”

While the depth and consistency of the team will be put to the test this weekend in Westmont, there will be no question whether the team will give it their all. 

“[We are] a really strong and connected group of people,” Newlands said.