Nathaniel Guenther of the Ramblers competes in the 100 breaststroke at the Evanston Invite. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOEL LERNER
He is still a good 200 pounds shy of qualifying to make an appearance on “The Biggest Loser,” the TV reality show/weight-loss competition. Determined and obese folks, with help from trainers, vie to lose the most weight and win the most money. Loyola Academy junior swimmer Nathaniel Guenther stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 135 pounds.
Not too long ago, freshman year, he stood 5-3 and weighed enough to fit comfortably inside a standard-size envelope, no extra postage required.
“Every year, since his freshman year, he’s gotten bigger, stronger,” Ramblers swim coach Mike Hengelmann says. “We were just talking about that, about his growth from year to year, about the extra time he is spending in the weight room. Nathaniel goes at it in practice, hard. He attacks practices. Very good work ethic.
“He keeps progressing,” the coach adds, this time referring to Guenther’s development as a swimmer.
Guenther, a Des Plaines resident and Lattof YMCA swim club member, was a 100-yard backstroker and 200 IMer for the Ramblers last winter. He trimmed four seconds off his seed time in the 100 back at a sectional meet, thanks to an effective taper, but missed advancing to the state meet in the event. Swim times go on diets, too. His main events this winter are the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke. Before LA’s winter break last month, Guenther’s had already swum a faster time in the 200 IM (2:02.19) than he had in a sectional last season. Progress. Early progress.
Guenther ran for his middle school cross country teams. He completed triathlons before the start of his Loyola Academy days. His sport, his thing, is swimming these days.
“I find myself talking about swimming all the time,” Guenther, a swimmer since the age of six, says. “I grew up with it. I write essays about it. When I get an assignment at school, asking for a narrative, I usually write about swimming. Swimming takes a lot of time, a lot of effort, a commitment to early-morning practices. My mom [Cindi] … she knows; she drove me to all of my practices and meets when I was young.”
You listen to Guenther. You hear his appreciation for his mom’s availability to taxi him to and from pools, sometimes before breakfast, sometimes after dinner. Cindi never swam competitively. She does, though, deserve some kind of medal, her son’s sentiments suggest.
“My mom,” Nathaniel says, “was there for me when I was little, always willing to support me as a swimmer.”
The Evanston Invitational is a big meet. Guenther and the rest of Hengelmann’s Ramblers swam in the 51st version of it on Jan. 9, finishing ninth (2,480 points) in a highly competitive field of 18 teams. Guenther touched 13th in the 200 IM (2:03.69) and 18th in the 100 breaststroke (1:03.94) and helped LA’s 400 freestyle relay place ninth (3:20.93, with junior Danny McGowan and seniors Walter Haracz and Chris Kearney). Guenther, senior Max Ashurst and juniors Zachary Holecek and Donovan Crowe combined for a time of 1:46.45 (12th place) in the 200 medley relay.
Guenther has not tasted a state berth at the prep level. He is close, sniffing distance, to state-qualifying status in the 100 breaststroke. His seed time in the event at Evanston last weekend was 1:01.75. The state-qualifying standard in the event is 1:00.53. The Niles North Sectional, Loyola Academy’s pre-state assignment, will be held in a little more than a month (Feb. 20), plenty of time for Guenther to work on starts, turns, technique. Memories of his splendid taper in 2015 haven’t faded. Another plus: illness, every swimmer’s bugaboo, probably won’t grip him again this winter; Guenther recovered from two bouts in the first half of the season. Got them out of the way.
“I’ve always thought the breaststroke is the easiest of the strokes,” Guenther says, adding a powerful kick, not an easy asset to develop, separates the decorated breaststrokers from the unadorned breaststrokers. “Think about it … the breaststroke is like paddling, and it’s a natural motion.”
The easier of his names to utter, Guenther, is the one his teammates usually use to get his attention or address him. It has two syllables, one more than Na-than-iel has. The easygoing Nathaniel Guenther doesn’t mind hearing his surname often. It’s a grueling sport, swimming. Swimmers conserving energy is a good thing, especially during December and January, the season’s draining months.
“Nathaniel is pretty quiet, goes about his business, and he’s having a really strong season,” Hengelmann says. “A great kid to coach.”
Notable: Ramblers senior Chris Kearney placed third in the 200 free (1:46.16) and fourth in the 100 free (48) at the Evanston Invite last weekend.