To take the players’ minds off of the fatigue from training twice a day during winter break, the boys swimming and diving team broke up into groups and competed in new challenges every practice. In separate challenges, the team members hung from the diving board for as long as they could, chugged a can of soda then swam 50 yards and even built boats out of cardboard.

“The idea was to build a boat that you could have one person sit in and row across [the pool] using a paddle,” said senior Gabe Frank. “[My team] spent about two hours [outside of practice] making our boat, but the other team spent about 10 and a half hours on theirs.”

On the day of the boat race, Frank’s team lost when its’ boat immediately sank after being put on the water, while the other team’s boat made it across.  

The swimming program has 17 seniors, including nine on varsity, making it the largest group of senior swimmers on varsity in the last five years. 

“We’ve got a huge number of leaders on the team,” said head coach Jarod Schroeder. “And most of those guys have been on the varsity program since they were at least sophomores.”

The boys diving team has been successful so far, and the boys’ scores have been improving throughout the season. 

The participation on the diving team is high, with six divers this year, diving coach Jessica Roby said. 

“Between two and four [divers] is pretty standard for the guys’ team, so six is a lot,” Roby said. 

According to sophomore Matthew Yuan, the team has had a successful season so far, with the team’s only loss being to New Trier. 

The Hinsdale Central Invite was one of Yuan’s favorite wins of the season, he said. 

“I had a few of my hardest dives, and I did the best I have ever done,” Yuan said.

As of Feb. 13, the swimming and diving team has a record of 6-1. Yuan has gone undefeated in all of his dual meets, and the team placed second in conference.

The swimming and diving team beat Glenbrook South for the second year in a row.

“Before last year, they had a [long] winning streak on us,” said Frank. “It was good to snap the streak and then beat them again this year.”