Boys swimming: Glenbrook South honors seniors, New Trier prepares for state series
The Feb. 3 boys dual swim meet between New Trier and host Glenbrook South really was about the next three weeks.
New Trier, ranked No. 3 in the state by Evanston swim coach Kevin Auger, has its sights on the upcoming conference, sectional and state meets. The Trevians have won 24 state championships.
"We want to put ourselves in that spot," said ninth-year Trevians coach Josh Runkle.
Glenbrook South, which hosts the Central Suburban League South varsity and junior varsity boys meets on Feb. 11, would like to be in that spot, too. The Titans won a 2021 state title.
Yet with just five seniors and New Trier, Glenbrook North and Niles West all considered favorably in the CSL South, Friday's senior night was as much a salute to those five swimmers as it was preparation.
"Basically for me senior night is the culmination of about eight years of swimming," said John Tirpak, who swam two relays and two individual events at the Friday dual.
"It's been sort of a celebration of all the practices over the years, both with the Glenbrook club teams and here at Glenbrook South. At least for me it's a chance to slow down a little bit - though not in the pool - take the time to recognize all that hard work and have some fun," Tirpak said.
His classmates are Andrew Crawford, Sanjeev Gorla, Jack Rogula and Nick Tiesi. With younger swimmers such as Henry Chen, Noah Chen, Tim Cho, James Grayes, Jimmy Korompilas and Eric Rabinovich, one of their season highlights came the prior Friday, beating Evanston in a meet decided by the conclusive 400-yard freestyle relay.
"Both programs are much more focused on performing well in the championship meets coming up," Titans coach Keith MacDonald said of his crew and New Trier. "So this is more a meet to fine-tune a few things and really to honor the seniors, for us."
In his 18 years with Glenbrook South, MacDonald hasn't named team captains. Tirpak liked that.
"We believe that the entire senior class should really have to step up and sort of fill that role of captain," Tirpak said.
"It's definitely different from other teams but I think it's special because it really unites the senior class. You all have that shared responsibility to lead the team," he said.
Rogula said he's gotten "super-close" with Tirpak over his four years in the program. Rogula has endured an epic battle during high school due to a pair of spine surgeries, one this past summer, and a more recent surgery that put a metal rod into his hip.
"Last year I was on varsity and I got my 500 free time down quite a bit," Rogula said.
"This year after the surgery I wasn't able to do the preseason practices, so missing the preseason I had to put in a lot more work to get to the place I'd been. Now, at this meet, I'm almost getting my time down to where it was last year, which was huge to me because I had a big disadvantage. So I'm happy with that."
As MacDonald said, New Trier was "the clear favorite" in the CSL South and thus favored to win the Feb. 3 dual. The Trevians did, 134.50 points to Glenbrook South's 51.50. The junior varsity was closer, New Trier winning 100-77.
Trevians coach Runkle already had swimmers in various stages of rest to prepare for conference and sectional meets. Many of his athletes were in events other than those they'll swim at the three big meets.
Aiden Musick, for example, won the 50 (22.42 seconds) and 500 freestyle races (4:41.07) but won't swim either. Max Lestina is a sprinter who swam neither the 50 or 100 freestyle. Charlie Bufton won the 100 butterfly in 51.50, the 17th-best time in the state this year (Musick has the 12th time, 51.29), but specializes in the individual medley.
"We kind of mixed it up today," said Trevians senior Graham Wilson, who'd soon have to cut his spectacular rock 'n' roll hair for the championship season. He also swam three events he normally wouldn't.
"I feel like Runkle kind of wanted to give us not a break, but not added stress," Wilson said. "He put us in different events than what we typically swim because we'll be swimming those the next couple weeks. Just a last chance to go fast in some other events before we kind of wrap up the season."
New Trier senior Jack Myers swam shorter events than he's used to. In "probably my third event," the 100 breaststroke, he followed Bufton's 58.97, the 12th fastest time in the state.
"For the seniors it means a lot just because it's the last dual meet of our high school career," Myers said.
"There are a couple guys tapering for conference, which is next week. They've already been resting for a week, so this was sort of a chance to feel fast before they go to conference. For the sectional guys it's the last chance to put up some good times in events maybe we don't swim as much."
For Rogula, senior night provided one of the last few chances to be in his element in the Titans' pool.
"I kind of love just having time to think while I'm in the water," he said. "My muscles just kind of take over, and I think about how I'm swimming, a lot (about) how my muscles are doing what they're doing. I just find it really nice to be in the water."