Looking to make a splash in the second half of the season, the men’s swim team uses their strong base of individual swimmers as leaders. Currently the team is 3-1 in conference and 5-2 overall.
According to head coach Keith MacDonald, the record isn’t as important as it may seem.
“The records don’t really mean that much; it’s more on how the team is swimming individually,” MacDonald said.
Although the team took victories over GBN, Niles West, Waukegan and Highland Park, they did not have the same success against Arrowhead High School or New Trier.
“We beat two teams that weren’t very good,” MacDonald explained. “We lost to the best team in Wisconsin and the best team in Illinois. [They’re] basically the best team in the country, so that doesn’t matter.”
MacDonald believes that a true test of the team’s swimming will be in their meet against Evanston tonight.
“That will be a fantastic meet,” MacDonald said. “They’re a team similar to us. They don’t have a lot of superstars but they’ve got a great senior class, and they’re kind of the same level we are right now.”
The current top swimmers are seniors Thomas Pollick, Ryan Brander, Ryan Hianik, junior Ethan Spalding and freshman Jon Salomon, according to MacDonald.
Pollick, Hianik and Brander not only make their contribution to the team with their times but also with leadership during practice.
“They lead most of the sets that we do,” MacDonald said. “If they’re working hard, then everyone else is going to work hard. It’s a trickle-down effect.”
Leading the team in distance events is Spalding. In the recent meet against GBN he earned a final time of 4:55.16.
“It’s a team sport with an individual slant,” MacDonald explained. “You’ve got to focus on your own individual swimming, but you can’t have success without the other guys helping you during practice to get better.”
According to Pollick, not only is it the individuals’ times that help the team, but also their attitudes.
“The whole team is motivated so the whole team pushes each other,” Pollick said. “Once that happens you get people that work really hard and it’s that atmosphere that really contributes to our fast times.”
Due to a loss to Loyola in last year’s season, the team did not win sectionals. This year, the team is aiming to win sectionals and place top ten in the state.
“We want to be a top-ten team in the state as well,” MacDonald said. “Right now we’re not ranked in the top ten, but we should be at the end of the year with the way we’re swimming.”
The team is currently in the middle of their season so the training load has increased. MacDonald plans to lessen this as the end of the season approaches.
“We want to make sure that everyone is peaking at the right time for sectionals,” MacDonald said.
According to Pollick, the mid-season meets may not be as important as the sectional meet, but they still play a big role in preparing the whole team for their playoff run.
“It’s nice to do well in the middle of the season,”Pollick said.“I think in order to be able to do well at the end of the season you have to go through some rough patches in the middle of the season. I guess you could call it failing but it’s really just steps to getting towards the goals you want.”
