After the final lap

Senior Joe Cassano looked up at a sea of fans filling the swim balconies. Suddenly, it hit him. This was it.

Cassano and the rest of the seniors came to the same realization as they warmed up for their final IHSA state swim meet. But they did not get here because of luck. The Huskies put in time and hard work to be here at the end of their journey.

Hard work propelled the boys to the top, and a lot of this work is put in at practice. The team swims about 45,000 yards a week and dedicates close to 25 hours a week for practice, according to Cassano. Head coach Andy McWhirter felt proud to send more swimmers to state than last year. He believes that the preparation at practice allowed the nine swimmers to qualify for the meet.

“We’re spending 4.5 to five hours a day here, which can be far more than they are spending at home,” McWhirter said. “I’m very proud of the number of kids who made it to the state meet. The work they did all year really paid off.”

During the season, the team conditioned during morning and afternoon practices. They dedicated two days a week to swimming and three days to weight training. After school, the team would spend 2.5 hours to maintain “high aerobic levels.”

According to McWhirter, swim teams across the state adhere to this rigorous schedule. Cassano also credited the team’s success to the work they accomplished during practices.

“All those practices, 4.5 hours a day, it all led up to this and those 20 seconds,” Cassano said. “I was definitely prepared for [state].”

But the tedious practice schedule eventually levels off when the season comes close to an end. The process of tapering, or having minimal practice to conserve energy for a meet, starts and the two-a-day practices nearly disappear.

“All year long, the boys were close to state qualifying times, and we had to taper them to get them into state,” McWhirter said. “We focused heavily on sectionals so that we could the most number of swimmers and divers for the state meet. That got them in the door. As they got to state, they could maintain the times they had and improve a little as well.”

The team’s preparation paid off when nine of the 12 swimmers qualified for state at the sectional meet. While the team did not place within the top 12, McWhirter was especially pleased with all the time drops due to tapering.

“At sectionals we were able to see six or seven second time drops across the board so a lot more swimmers qualified for state having those huge time drops,” McWhirter said.

But the mental side of preparation can be just as important as the amount of time spent in the water leading up to the final meet of the year. McWhirter explained how the team visualized possibilities beforehand.

“Going into the state meet, we do a lot of mental rehearsal,” McWhirter said. “We close our eyes and talk about what it’s like to be at the pool. Where you’re going to hear the starter from, the cheering from, things like that, so that when they’re there, they’re surprised less by the environment.”

But even with all of this preparation leading up to the state meet, there is no way a swimmer can be ready for what that final swim will entail. Senior captain Joe Tomashek loved the high energy of the state final’s atmosphere.

“State is pretty crazy,” Tomashek said. “Normally at a meet, it’s just silent, especially when you’re under the water. But at the state meet, you can actually hear people cheering before you start your race. It’s something you only get to experience once or twice, and it’s definitely something to remember.”

But after that final race, the season ends. And for the seniors, it is time to move on. Four years of training and practice led up to that last, final moment, and Tomashek will miss nothing more than his teammates.

“I will definitely miss my teammates,” Tomashek said. “That’s something that swimmers have more than other sports. You have countless hours with them, and you spend so much time with them in and out of the water. You gain really close relationships.”

McWhirter will also miss his second family as they move on to college, but he’s thankful for the time he spent with them these past four seasons.

“It’s always nice seeing how the seniors have matured from freshman year all the way through,” McWhirter said. “Each senior has a different personality that they bring to the team, and as we spend so much time together, it is like a family. We will miss that part of the family as they transfer on.”