The Niles North Boys swim team competed in the IHSA Boys Sectionals on Feb. 18, and five swimmers qualified to move on to the State competition. 

The sectionals were held at Niles North, and all swimmers on the team participated in their respective events. Niles North as a whole placed 7th out of 12 teams in the meet in terms of score, but 5 individual swimmers would qualify for the state competition. 

The qualifying members from Niles North were senior Nicholas Pham, junior Ryan Martinez, junior Ryan Nguyen, senior Matthew Hristov, and junior Jonathan Avram. They each qualified in each event by getting under the required time to qualify, which varied depending on the different events. 

All of the swimmers that qualified for state competed from Feb 24-25 in Westmont, including the Niles North participants. Unfortunately, all Niles North participants failed to move past the prelims, marking the end of the 2022-23 swimming season. 

Although they didn’t get the result they had hoped for, the swimmers had a good time at the state competition and were happy with how things ended.

“It was a great last meet of my career,” senior and three-time State qualifier Nicholas Pham said. “The environment at the meet is something that can never be recreated or matched. With all the fastest swimmers in the entire state, it was an honor to swim with them. It was great representing North with a great group of guys.”

Other swimmers felt honored to be at the meet, as it had been their dream to participate in the state meet.

“These are the meets that we put years of hard work to compete in,” junior State qualifier Ryan Martinez said. “Going to state is something that kids dream of, and the fact that I could make that dream come true is something I would’ve never thought possible. I’m glad I could do it with my boys.”

The excitement and shock of qualifying echoed throughout multiple qualifiers.

“Swim has been a big part of my life for a long time, and it feels great to achieve something so crazy that I didn’t think would be possible,” Junior State qualifier Jonathan Avram said. “I couldn’t have done it without my amazing team.”

Not many athletes and teams at Niles North advance far enough to participate in IHSA State competitions, and it is certainly rare for five members of one team to qualify. The Niles North community congratulates the swim team and the five qualified participants.