A few weeks have gone by since the Chesterton High School Boys and Girls Swim and Dive teams placed within the top five schools at the Indiana High School Athletic Association State Swimming Championships. With the excitement wearing down and another well-done season in the books, we went back with the coaches and swimmers to see just what made this year’s team so great.
Coach Kevin Kinel finished his 37th year of coaching the Chesterton swimmers with a third-place finish for the boy’s team and the highest-placed finish for the girls, coming in second.
“The expectations were high all year,” Kinel said.
Both teams had the state meet in the back of their minds from September to February.
“The motivation to get runner-up was our goal since day one,” senior freestyler Andrea Hanas said, and the team culture epitomized that.
With the new tradition of high fiving after practice and strong emphasis on teamwork amongst every swimmer, Hanas and senior Gary Kostbade, agreed the team’s culture and “air” were just different and improved this year.
“I think part of the difference this year was having a big senior group on both sides, where they have been together since they were little kids in age group,” Kinel said. “It was a very special group who were able to set the tone and get everyone to buy into it.”
The boys won their 21st consecutive DAC title and their 19th consecutive Sectional win, whereas the girls finished the year with their 18th consecutive win at both championship meets.
“The seniors really led by example, and I think the younger kids really caught on to how special it is to swim for Chesterton, and the expectations that have been set not only by past year’s teams, but also by each other,” Kostbade said.
Over the two days of State meet swimming, the girls swam hard and fast, placing in the top eight in nearly every event. What was interesting, Coach Kinel observed, was that no individual or relay placed higher than fifth.
“We had two girls in the finals in a few things, but it was more of a balanced attack with no real “state stars,” but they found a way to get the job done,” he said.
“It was all depth,” Hanas said, who placed in the top 16 in both her 50 and 100 free events.
For the boys, again no state champs, but a few runner-up’s with Kostbade in the 100-breaststroke, which also broke the Chesterton team record he had been chasing since freshman year.
The boys also had a balanced approach, getting two CHS names in the top eight in many events and coming in second in the 200-free relay.
“I’ve done well at the state meet both ways now, with a few real studs and basically with just depth, so it’s been pretty fun,” Kinel said. “But that is typical of this team, everybody contributing and everybody doing their part.”
This year the Chesterton swim program had a significant year in establishing the comeback of the boy’s team, and the confidence in the girl’s team.
The last state championship title for Chesterton was in 2014 with the help of stellar athletes: Aaron and Ethan Whitaker, Jack Wallar, Blake Pieroni, and Kostbade.
“The boys were 6th last year, then around 11th the year before that, so after winning in 2014 and losing all those quality kids, we struggled the next two years,” Kinel explained. “We are on the rebound, so third was pretty good. I am hoping that these seniors have passed on some of that to these younger kids.”
And for the girls, the second-place finish brought tears to Kinel’s eyes and texts from many alumni.
“The girls have been third several times, fourth several times and fifth a bunch of times,” he said. “We have been up there knocking on the door for years, but we have never been big team-wise. It’s interesting that we do it on a year that we don’t have any state champs, which is a credit to the leadership to all those kids.”
Throughout the season, Kinel watched Danny Schmeigel go from a pretty good swimmer to a phenomenal backstroker. He watched Andrew Gillen swim “out of his mind” during the 100-breaststroke consolation heat, and Nate Carlson swim under a 1:55:00 in the 200 Individual Medley at the state meet.
Jaclyn Klimczak went from a good swimmer to the elite level this year, Jenn Gillen out-touched her teammates to win the Sectional meet in the 100-breaststroke, and Cara Kroeger broke her own records in the 200 I.M. and the 100-backstroke at Sectionals, while helping the girls with their fifth-place finish in the 200-free relay at State among other top finishes.
Every year, the girls and boys swimmers and divers come together to represent the small town of Chesterton at the State meet. Then, the seniors graduate high school and head to college. Some choose to excel in just academics and others choose to continue their swimming career as student-athletes, where Kinel now watches and cheers on from another sideline.
“Through the years, on Sunday mornings I sit down and go through and look through all the colleges,” he said, either reading the newspaper recaps or watching it online. “We have so many swimming in college, I can’t do it all in one period. I have to do an hour and then get up and do the rest the next weekend.”
Adding to that list of collegiate athletes will be Kostbade swimming for Indiana University Bloomington and Hanas and Aubrey Wing at IUPUI. Seniors Amy Socha and Wes Slaughter are still narrowing down their school choice, but are planning on swimming.
The swimming program draws alumni in from all over the country who were once CHS athletes who swam in the Chesterton High School (or Middle School) pool, wore the maroon and gold swim cap, and were coached by Kevin Kinel. He may not recognize the 40-year-old face now after so many years, but then it comes to him.
“I would never recognize them, then you look into their eyes and you see that same little kid in there,” he said, laughing.