NIC-10's top hope at state swim meet could win his school's first state medal in 21 years
Freeport sophomore Tristan Peterson repeated as sectional diving champion at Byron last week.
Ho hum. He knew he would win. Everyone knew he would win. There were only two divers entered. His score of 514.20 was 281 points ahead of the runner-up.
It’s been like that most of the year. Which makes Friday and Saturday’s state meet at the FMC Natatorium in Westmont dramatically different for the only likely NIC-10 swimming and diving entrant to earn a state medal.
The amount of competition will be an even bigger adjustment than the quality of the competition.
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“The hardest thing for him to overcome is he’s been the only diver at a lot of these meets,” said his diving coach Garry Cacciapaglia. “Now you are going to go down to state and you are going to be waiting a half an hour to dive. We’ve been talking about this and preparing for it and trying to stretch practice dives out and take our time. We do visualization and work on our breathing. The physical part of it is already done. Now it’s just mental.”
Peterson made the first cut at state as a freshman and just missed the top-16 second cut but two points, finishing 19th. The top 12 earn state medals. Eight of those top 12 were seniors last year and defending state champion Matthew Yuan of Glenbrook North is out for the season after having leg surgery.
“A lot of the top ones left,” Peterson said, “but there are still two or three of them back. They’ve beaten me by 30 points — maybe more at times — at club meets.”
“Being 30 points behind is a good thing,” Cacciapaglia said. “He is catching up. But there are a lot of good divers at state and a lot of others who are under the radar.”
Peterson broke several pool and school records as a freshman last year but has been even better as a sophomore. His winning sectional score was 45 points higher than it was as a freshman.
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He has a good chance at a top-six state medal this year.
Freeport has never had a state swimming champion. The last Pretzel to finish in the top 12 at state was Mark Fishburn in the 500-yard freestyle 21 years ago. Matt Smith earned three top-eight diving medals. Smith’s third in diving in 2002 ties Mike Miller’s third in the 100 butterfly in 1995 as the highest finish in Freeport history. Frank Dyson (sixth in 1959) and David Appleman (12th in 2000) are Freeport’s only other divers to crack the top 12.
Peterson’s sectional score makes him the No. 8 seed going into state. He has replaced two of his dives this year to add a higher degree of difficulty, but he has mostly worked on perfecting what he does.
“He has taken a lot of his basic dives and really perfected them,” Cacciapaglia said. “He’s much more consistent. That’s what we’ve been working on. We haven’t been pushing really, really hard dives. Just whatever dives he’s doing, I want him to be very consistent. Having those easy dives that you can perform at a very high level shores up your entire list.”
“I am a little nervous,” Peterson said, “but not as nervous as last year. I was very nervous last year, and that’s what messed me up. I am trying to settle myself down and just get excited.
“It’s not worrying about the competition,” he added. “Even the meets where I do have other people with me, I don’t focus on them. I focus on myself. This whole season, I’ve been going against myself almost and my past performances.”
Rockford-area state qualifiers
Event — Qualifier, school, state seed
Diving — Tristan Peterson, Freeport, 8th
400 free relay — Boylan, 30th
100 back — Owen West, Hononegah, 34th
500 free — James Murray, Auburn, 40th
100 breast — Bo Shields, Harlem, 43rd
200 free — James Murray, Auburn, 46th
Contact: mtrowbridge@rrstar.com, @matttrowbridge or 815-987-1383. Matt Trowbridge has covered sports for the Rockford Register Star for over 30 years, after previous stints in North Dakota, Delaware, Vermont and Iowa City.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Why this diver is NIC-10's top hope for state swim medal; NIC-10 seeds
