For the first time in Niles West history the Boy’s Swim and Dive team has taken first place as Conference Champions. Niles West diver, senior Jonathan Guan placed first place, in all conference for diving as well. The team went undefeated, not losing against any team in their conference this season. This past Saturday, Feb. 22, the varsity team competed at sectionals and will be sending seven of their athletes to state.
Senior and captain, Aleks Piljevic, placed third place for the 100-meter freestyle and second place for the 50-meter freestyle races. Guan will also be competing at state for dive.
Juniors, Nick Dao and Ethan Chung are going to state as well, both of them qualifying for two different individual events. Chung set two new records for the Niles West swim program for both of his events. For the 100-meter butterfly, he had a new time of 47.98 seconds, which placed him first and also named him “Sectional Champ.” He placed third in the 100-meter backstroke race, with a new time of 49.83 seconds. Dao placed 5th in both the 100-meter breaststroke and 50-meter freestyle events.
Sophomore Stefan Tadic was also named “Sectional Champ,” and set new records for both of his events. His first event was the 200-meter freestyle, and he set a new time with one minute and 42.18 seconds. For his 500-meter freestyle race, he set a new time of four minutes and 37.09 seconds.
Two of Niles West relay teams are also going to state. The boys’ 200-meter freestyle relay placed first. All four of the swimmers were named “Sectional Champs,” and broke another school record with a time of one minute and 24.96 seconds. The team consisted of Chung, Piljevic, Dao and freshman Will Earle. The other relay team placed third at sectionals for the 200-meter medley relay and also broke a school record, with a time of one minute and 34.03 seconds. The team consisted of Chung, Piljevic, Dao and sophomore Marshal Dotlich, all four athletes were again named “Sectional Champs.”
“Making it to state this year was an expectation, not a goal,” Chung said.
Head swim coach Daniel Vanderjeugdt also got named “Coach of the Sectional” on Saturday.
This is the team’s sixth year qualifying for state, however, they have not had 16 top times for a long time, according to Piljevic. Vanderjuget didn’t see these feats as a surprise at all, the boys have been working hard this season and these wins were expected.
“Sectionals was expected, everything that was put down on paper was what happened. All of these swimmers work year-round for this, it was not just working these past three months. They are a very hardworking and energetic team,” Vanderjeugdt said.
The team had a close bond this season which contributed to their success. By pushing each other to work harder every day the boys were able to excel as a team.
“As a team, our bond really grew as a whole and we would always push each other in practice to go faster as well as individually… I definitely saw the opportunity to place high at state so I knew that working really hard in and out of the water would get me there,” Piljevic said.
Leading up to state the boys are taking it easy and relaxing, before pushing themselves in the water to place at state.
“I have high expectations for us at state. I think finishing overall as a team in the top ten is something we want to make sure happens.. leading up to state we are preparing our bodies by resting well, getting a lot of sleep and fueling our bodies throughout the day. Practice-wise, we have been going down in the amount of [yardage] we do in practice which prepares our bodies for the coming days,” Chung said.
The boys have worked hard this season and as a result, they placed many new records, earned the spot as first place in the CSL North and are now qualifying for state. The seven athletes who qualified will be competing on Friday, Feb. 28 and on Saturday, Feb. 29, at the FMC Natatorium in Westmond, along with a send-off ceremony at Niles West on Thursday morning.
