When the New Trier and Glenbrook South boys swimming teams were tied at the end of the Warrior Relays in Deerfield, an 8×25-yard relay between the teams was used to determine who would take home the title plaque.
The relay, which was won by Glenbrook South, started with New Trier senior Henry Yavitt lined up against Glenbrook South senior Sam Iida, one of the state’s most talented swimmers. Before the race on Dec. 2, Yavitt casually informed his opponent he had been “on JV last week.”
He wasn’t lying.
A standout on New Trier’s boys water polo team that finished third in the state in 2016, Yavitt was a first-year competitor on the school’s JV swimming team as a junior and was scheduled to swim at that level again this winter.
But coaches quickly realized Yavitt had outgrown that level.
“I actually started the first practice (this winter) on JV, and I did some test sets, and coach (Josh) Runkle was kind enough to ask if I wanted to try varsity,” said Yavitt, who lives in Winnetka. “The first meet (at Deerfield) came around, I had a good 50 freestyle time (22.87). Ever since, I’ve just been rolling with it.”
Immediately, and unexpectedly, Yavitt became an important factor on a team Runkle said he believes is good enough to challenge for a state title next month. New Trier will play host to the state meet Feb. 24-25.
Runkle said he’s still trying to figure out how to best deploy Yavitt, with the freestyle leg of the 200 medley relay, the 200 free relay and the individual 50 free the most likely options.
“(Yavitt) is going to be a player for us at the end of the year,” Runkle said. “We weren’t even thinking about that at the beginning of the year. He was a guy we were thinking could be a 22-second freestyler, but now we’re looking at him and thinking: ‘Can he go 21-something? Can he do that on a relay?’ He has that kind of athletic ability, but he’s still very raw as a swimmer.”
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Yavitt’s style of swimming might be a bit choppy, according to Runkle, but the times speak for themselves.
“He’s maybe not the best at swimming fundamentals, considering he’s just a super fast water polo player. But he still swims fast, which is impressive,” said Trevians senior Mason McQuet, a Winnetka resident who is Yavitt’s teammate on both the water polo and swimming teams.
Yavitt’s water polo credentials are impressive. After leading the Trevians to their highest win total (31) and best state finish ever last spring, Yavitt was named first-team all-state by IllinoisWaterPolo.net and fourth-team All-America by National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association.
Yavitt said he spent all of offseason training for water polo, but it helped prepare him for the swim team.
“It’s funny, this (past) summer, all I did was play polo,” said Yavitt, whose twin brother Sam also is on the water polo and swimming teams. “We don’t do the same things (as swimming) in (polo) practice, but we do sprints. I just worked hard.”
Henry Yavitt added: “In water polo, every game starts with a sprint-off for the ball in the middle. Just having the attitude, ‘I’m going to be the first guy (to the ball). I’m not going to let him win,’ helped me transition that into swimming.”
With just five weeks until the state swim meet, each competition now seemingly becomes more pressure-filled than the last. But Henry Yavitt, who plans to play water polo collegiately at Air Force, said he does not expect to be overwhelmed by the stakes or the crowds. After all, he’s experienced both in water polo.
“Last year’s run with water polo, playing in the (state) semifinal and third-place game, the stands were packed. That helped me transition to (big) swim meets,” Henry Yavitt said after the Trevians (187 points) finished second at the loaded 62nd annual Trevian Relays on Saturday. “This is something new to me, but the atmosphere I’ve been in before. Water polo has helped.”
At the Trevian Relays, Henry Yavitt finished 14th in the 50 free (22.89). He also was part of the 200 medley relay team that finished fifth (1:40.20) and the 200 free relay team that came in fifth (1:30.13).
Dan Shalin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press