On Saturday, Feb. 7, Naperville North’s boys swim and dive team took third place at the DuPage Valley Conference (DVC) with 226 points.

The Huskies came in third out of five teams. They finished behind Wheaton Co-op, who came in second with 266 points, and Naperville Central, who took first with 323 points.

Senior captain Joe Cassano said he was proud of how the team overcame the obstacles they faced during the meet.

“Everyone was dropping time and swimming their hearts out,” Cassano said. “We also had a minor bump in the road, but we were able to bounce back and come together as a team that was even stronger than before. As a captain, it was great to see all of their hard work pay off.”

Overcoming obstacles is exactly what the team did on Saturday. After a 40-minute delay, the freshman-sophomore relay team composed of sophomore Nick Zillier, sophomore Brandon Chan, freshman I.I. Qiao and freshman Josh Tak broke NNHS’ medley relay record. The previous record was set in 2010 by Andy Eiken, Nick Bessler, Eric Healy and Kevin Butz at a time of 1:41.43. The team swam the race in 1:38.17, beating the previous record by more than three seconds.

Zillier said he was excited to see his teammates swim well and even more excited to break a NNHS record.

“I was hoping to break it, and we’ve been looking forward to it for a long time,” Zillier said. “But when I got in and swam, I didn’t think I had it at all. I botched the turn, and I was terrified. Then I looked up, and it was just such a great moment to look up and see that scoreboard.”

In addition to new record, the team celebrated their resilience. Senior David Holzer was especially happy to see his team bounce back.

“There were definitely some hiccups along the way, but overall I think we had a really good meet,” Holzer said. “Seeing all of my fellow teammates was definitely the best part of Saturday.”

Zillier also considered this to be the highlight of the meet.

“We had some hard times we had to get through,” Zillier said. “But we did a good job pulling through as a team, staying strong and finishing out the season really well. I’m proud of these guys.”