The official site of the Torch, the student-run newspaper at Glenbrook North High School.

Torch

The official site of the Torch, the student-run newspaper at Glenbrook North High School.

Torch

The official site of the Torch, the student-run newspaper at Glenbrook North High School.

Torch

Team spirit swims through school

Juniors Suzanna Glowacki (left), Maggie Hinken (middle) and sophomore Caroline Vogel take pictures on “Cowboys vs. Indians Day” before their meet on Oct. 24 at Maine East. The team defeated Maine East, and the 200-free relay team of seniors Abigail Rosenberg and Colleen Doolan, junior Erin Oliphant and sophomore Sabrina Baxamusa broke the pool record with a time of 1:41.74.  Photo by Morgan Berg
Juniors Suzanna Glowacki (left), Maggie Hinken (middle) and sophomore Caroline Vogel take pictures on “Cowboys vs. Indians Day” before their meet on Oct. 24 at Maine East. The team defeated Maine East, and the 200-free relay team of seniors Abigail Rosenberg and Colleen Doolan, junior Erin Oliphant and sophomore Sabrina Baxamusa broke the pool record with a time of 1:41.74. Photo by Morgan Berg

Some athletes wear their jersey to school on game days, but the girls swimming and diving team takes a different approach.

Senior Patricia Doolan said the swimmers have themed dress-up days, including themes like “American Day” and “Superhero Day,” because they cannot wear their uniform, a swimsuit, to school on days of their meets.

Robin Walker, girls swimming and diving Head Coach, has coached at Glenbrook North for 23 years and said the dress-up days have occurred since he began coaching at GBN. He said the swimmers used to only dress up for the conference meet, but now dress up for each meet.

“The momentum of [dressing up] kind of carried its own projection, and [the girls] participate and they actively love it,” said Walker. “They keep the tradition alive, it’s not me keeping the tradition alive.”

Walker said a lot of logistics go into planning the dress-up days. This past summer, the seniors on the team had two meetings to plan for the dress-up days.

At the first meeting, the girls made a list of potential dress-up days and at the second meeting they finalized the themes.

Senior Lindsay Fraser said this year they kept traditional dress-up days, such as “Toga Day,” and added new ones like “Construction Day” and “Angels vs. Devils Day.”

The swimmers said they encountered some issues with the new themes.

Doolan said there was no clothing for “Angels vs. Devils Day” because it was new and there was nothing the graduated swimmers had to pass down. She also said nobody had the time to go out and buy new clothing.

The swimmers ended up switching “Angels vs. Devils Day” to a “Blackout Day” for their meet against Glenbrook South.

Fraser said this is the first time they defeated GBS in her four years on the swim team.

“[Beating GBS] was a really big deal, representing Glenbrook North, the sister school, the rivalry,” said Walker. “[The GBN girls] loved it.”

Both Doolan and Fraser said they have collected a wide variety of clothing from graduated swimmers for their dress-up themes, and they also buy new apparel from Goodwill and Party City.

Doolan said getting ready in the morning after practice is crazy. The swimmers blast music in the locker room, shower as fast as they can and try to eat while running around and asking each other for dress-up clothes to borrow.

“[We bond] through the chaos of trying to figure out what to do in the mornings,” said Fraser. “It’s 40 straight minutes of pure chaos.”

Fraser said on “Toga Day,” only two swimmers knew how to tie the toga outfits so they were getting ready up until the start of school.

Despite the chaos, Doolan said the dress-up days bring the team together.

“[You may be] a little embarrassed of what you’re wearing to school, but we’re all doing it together, and it’s to show we’re a part of a team,” Fraser said.

Doolan said it is fun when she sees a swimmer in the hallways, or has a class with another teammate, because then she is not alone in dressing up.

“I don’t know that a lot of people make it down to the pool,” said Walker. “I don’t know that a lot of people know exactly what [the team does] or how they do it, but they do see them dressed up collectively as a group.”