Julia Green of the Trevians races to a second-place finish in the 200 freestyle at the Glenbrook North Sectional. She also took runner-up honors in the 500 free. PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE HANDWERKER
Julia Green swims yards, serious yards, for the New Trier swimming and diving team. Lots and lots of yards. The 5-foot-8 senior, at last weekend’s Glenbrook North Sectional, qualified to compete in the 200-yard freestyle, 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard freestyle relay and 400-yard free style relay events at this weekend’s state meet in the home water.
Goldfish live in bowls. Green lives in pools, her address 25 N. Any Lane half the time, 25 S. Any Lane the other half.
“Distance swimmers, we joke, don’t choose to be distance swimmers,” Green says. “Coaches chose us to be distance swimmers.”
Green, though, does not mind the challenges of her watery workload. She actually relishes them, dives right in, with vigor, with desire. Distance swimming runs in the family. Her mother, Marcia Cleveland, swam the English Channel in 1990. The English Channel is 19 nautical miles, or 38,000 yards, super serious yards. Her father, Mark Green, prefers to do the distance thing on land, having completed the Chicago Marathon in October.
“My dad’s job, when it comes to my swimming,” Julia, starting to laugh, says, “is to hold the towel for me. He came up with that job; I didn’t.”
Julia Green did yeoman’s service in lanes for her crew of Trevians at the Glenbrook North Sectional in Northbrook last weekend, touching second in the 200 free (1:52.2) and second in the 500 free (5:05.97) and helping a pair of relays (200 free, 400 free) set pool records on Nov. 14. Four swims, four state-qualifying efforts. Her time in the 200 free ranks eighth among all state qualifiers in the event.
“When I was young [in the fifth and sixth grades] I wasn’t afraid to go out, swim hard and hold on. That’s why my club coach [Rick Peterson, then with New Trier Swim Club] placed me in an endurance lane. I have the will, the fight in me, to swim distances. I find myself thinking, often, I can do this, during a race. I find that extra gear.”
All kinds of folks, distance people and spring specialists and everybody in between, envy Green’s grit. They also appreciate it, admire it.
“She’s a great competitor,” New Trier swim coach Mac Guy says of Green, the reigning Central Suburban League South Meet champion in the 200 free and 500 free. “She competes all the time, loves to compete, puts the yards in year-round. It comes naturally to her, being competitive; it gives her excitement. And Julia has always been a really tough kid, with a strong moral compass.”
New Trier won a fourth straight state championship in 2013, Green’s sophomore season. Green placed 11th in the 200 free back then, going 1:52.97. She had also qualified in the 100 backstroke. She anchored last year’s seventh-place 400 free relay (3:29.7) and competed in the 200 free and 500 free events at state.
“She’s always pushing herself at every practice, at every meet,” Trevians senior Emily George, a breaststroker and reliable relay member, says. “Julia is easy-going out of the pool, always positive, and she can be a little sarcastic, a good thing. Her work ethic … that’s up there. Every time she swims the 500, I’m impressed. She’s always strong in the 500, smoking in a lane, flying.”
Green intends to swim and rack up countless more yards at the next level, either at Williams College in Massachusetts or at Kenyon College in Ohio. Kenyon won 17 straight NCAA Division III championships from 1984-2000 and six more between 2002-09. Kenyon is located in cozy Gambier, the town’s population slightly higher than the number of NCAA swimming and diving trophies in the college’s possession. Biology, education and psychology interest Green. Liberal arts institutions attract teens like Green, the consummate student-athlete. Green loves working with kids and reading books, A Man Called Ove (by Fredrik Backman) high on her current Recommended Reading list. Her role models for life are her parents. Her friends mean the world to her.
“I see her in two lights, one in the pool, the other out of the pool,” Sarah Axon, a New Trier JV swim coach, says. “She’s kind, determined, a little spicy, and she’s curious, with a strong personality. Julia is a good leader, a good teammate, and she’s been really good with our JV swimmers, helpful and supportive.”
Notable: New Trier advanced 13 entrants to this weekend’s state meet in the home natatorium, including the two individual berths (200 free, 500 free) earned by Green at last weekend’s Glenbrook North Sectional, won by Loyola Academy (268 points); NT (261.5 points) finished runner-up on Nov. 14. Green, Sophia Girgenti, Olivia Lantry and Lydia O’Connell combined for a pool-record time of 1:36.13 in the 200 free relay; Green anchored the victorious 400 free relay (pool-record 3:29.35, with Girgenti, O’Connell and Vivian Wu); the 200 medley unit of Girgenti, O’Connell, Kathryn Tao and Emily George finished runner-up in a state-qualifying 1:45.16. NT freshman Jessie Creed was dominant again off the boards, overwhelming the diving field with a state-best point total of 548.7. NT senior diver Sophie Conley (third place, 485.9 points) also advanced to state. NT’s other state-qualifying swims: George (second-place tie, 100 breaststroke, 1:04.63); Sara Nicholas (second-place tie, 100 breaststroke, 1:04.63); Wu (second place, 200 IM, 2:09.58); O’Connell (second place, 50 free, 23.88); Girgenti (second place, 100 free, 52.07); and Kami Grochowski (second place, 200 free, 1:55.14). … NT’s Bruce Kimball was named Glenbrook North Sectional Diving Coach of the Year. … NT’s sectional time in the 400 free relay (3.29.35) ranks third among all state qualifiers in the event. … Trevians coach Mac Guy, on his young group of Trevians before the start of the Glenbrook North Sectional : “It’s a great group, a lot of fun. They all like to soak up the moments at big meets.”