There are 35 different sports teams at New Trier. Between all these teams, New Trier has won 120 state championships. It is easy to see that the Trevian athletics programs are both competitive and accomplished.
New Trier has state championship teams each year, but what makes New Trier teams superior? One of the obvious examples is state titles, work ethic, age of the team, and level of competition in the state.
Girls Swimming and Diving has won the state title for the past four years. One of the oldest teams at New Trier; beginning in 1912, and New Trier swim and dive has won 13 state titles. Senior swimmer Kate Lucenti said, “I think we have won state the past few years because we are one of the hardest working teams in the state.
Every girl on varsity is there to push themselves and get faster; otherwise they wouldn’t wake up at 5:15 every morning. “The girls practice almost every day, twice a day in the morning and after school, with dry land workouts that include weight lifting, running, and swim sets of 100 meters to 2000 meters.
The team in the past few years has dominated the competition in both conference and state. “I can’t say we are a superior sport, only because I’ve only done one other sport at New Trier and it was on the freshman level so not very intense so I don’t really have anything to compare swimming to. All I know is that everyone on the team works really hard and puts a lot of time and energy into becoming better athletes,” added Lucenti.
Boys lacrosse has won 10 state championships in the past nineteen years. Boys Lacrosse started at New Trier in the early 80’s. They train in the offseason with club teams and with Coach Davis for strength and conditioning. The first state championship they won was in 1995.
From 2005-2011, the team went on a dominant run, winning state every year during this period. Senior Ben Connelly said, “We won state last year for the first time since 2011 and I think the big reason was the group of guys on the team really gelled well and everyone really came together throughout the season on the field. The chemistry and trust with one another is what got it done for us last year in State.”
Lacrosse practices are comprised of stick work and fast paced drills with plenty of game like situations. The trevs fake stiff competition from rival Loyola year in and year out. They are looking forward to another run at state.
“I think we return a lot of great talent this year and the goal is obviously to win the last game at the end of the season but we have a long way to go before then,” Connelly said.
Boys lacrosse is one of the superior teams in the state because of how many state championships they won, the difficulty of practice, and the long history it has at New Trier. “Lacrosse at New Trier is of the highest quality lacrosse in the Midwest you will find.
All the sports at New Trier are always competitive and we just try to fulfill the high expectations of New Trier athletics,” Connelly said.
Football has had a great year so far. With a 5-0 record, they are dominating the competition this year. In years past they have struggled and they have not had this good of a season since 1996. There has been a football team at New Trier for nearly 100 years, yet they have never won a state championship.
Senior Kevin Mulhern said, “We just haven’t put the pieces together to win state.”
A normal practice for the football team consists of stretching, running through plays, and conditioning. Even though the team has had such a great season this year they have had difficulty winning conference and going to state. Mulhern said,”I think that the sky is the limit for this group. We have a ton of talent and depth, but we need to stay focused and execute against tough opponents. That’s going to be the test down the road into November.”
Although they face stiff in-conference competition, Maine South and Evanston, with such a great start are looking forward to a run at state. “I think football is a superior sport. We have some freak athletes on the team, and we’re one of the hardest working sports teams here, and right now we’re reaping the rewards of both,” said Mulhern.
Looking to have as successful of a season as football is the girls basketball team. Led by junior Jeannie Boehm and senior Jackie Welch, they look to capitalize on last year’s state supersectional finish.