Leader Of The Pack Nissan Chases More Distance Success

Evanston’s boys swimming program hasn’t produced many elite distance swimmers who can compete at the State level recently.

And even rarer is a swimmer like Jonas Nissan, who will actually be dropping down --- to the longest race offered on the Illinois High School Association menu of events --- to the 500-yard freestyle distance for his senior season.

But Nissan is the Wildkits’ best bet to achieve postseason success in the pool entering the 2024-25 season that begins Friday at Loyola Academy.

Nissan figures to be the leading point producer for a squad that was dominated by seniors last year and has plenty of holes to fill in the starting lineup. He’s a potential game-changer for ETHS after becoming the first Evanston male competitor to be named Distance Swimmer of the Year for his exploits this summer at the Illinois Swimming state club finals.

In a 3-day span at State in the summer, Nissan placed second in the mile (1500 meters); third in the 400 individual medley and 800 freestyle; fourth in the 400 freestyle; and sixth in the 200 butterfly. Those distances are all longer than the typical high school races and more comparable to the distances in collegiate swimming, marking Nissan as someone whose college potential has no ceiling.

His breakthrough began last winter when training with graduated distance standout Lucas Macy. Both reached the IHSA state meet in the 500-yard freestyle but didn’t qualify for the finals, even though Nissan posted a best time of 4 minutes, 45.10 seconds in the preliminaries.

Nissan is the clear leader of the pack for the Kits, although Evanston’s talent pool in the 500 is deeper than usual this winter.

“The mile and the 800 freestyle are actually probably his two best events, along with the 200 fly and the 400 IM,” said Evanston head coach Kevin Auger. “What he accomplished in the summer was a little bit of a surprise to us. Now I’m looking for a big senior year from Jonas. I think he can score at State in the 500 and he’s really taken some huge steps since last year.

“He’s worked so hard and you don’t do that well in the mile unless you work hard. He really took it to another level this summer.”

Nissan won’t be the only senior to make an impact. Co-captains Isaac Peng (sprints, breaststroke) and Nate Cvetas (100 butterfly) are poised to make a splash in their final seasons along with Walker Travis in the 100 breaststroke. And senior Will Huston, who missed part of last year with a concussion, will likely focus on the sprint freestyle relays with more depth on the deck in the 500 free for this year’s squad.

State hopefuls in the junior class include Micah Nelson, who battled his way into the sectional lineup with a four-second drop in the breaststroke with his end-of-the-year taper, and Ben Shewfelt in the butterfly and backstroke. Another junior, Will Kleinschmit, competed at State on the freestyle relays and should be a fixture there.

Other juniors who figure to make major contributions are Hartley Scales in the backstroke and Frankie Lang in the 500 and 200 freestyle.

Evanston should get a big boost from the sophomore class. As freshmen, the young Wildkits captured a rare first place finish at the season-ending Central Suburban League invitational involving all 12 schools from both sides of the league. Although it’s not an “official” league championship meet, the fact that ETHS outscored perennial power New Trier 389-386 with a victory in the final race of the day, the 400 freestyle relay showed the potential of that group.

Now all Auger asks is “can the sophomores swim like seniors for us?”

“That is a pretty loaded class,” added the ETHS coach. “We gave New Trier a run last year because of our depth (Evanston’s only other win came in the 200 freestyle relay). I saw this group coming from when they were club swimmers, but we still have some mountains to climb.”

Maxton Pomykalski will probably focus on the 200 and 100 freestyle once the season starts after seeing most of his action in the IM and breaststroke a year ago.

“Maxton was the main reason we won that (freshman) meet because of the way he chased down the New Trier swimmer on the last leg, the same guy who won the 100 freestyle earlier,” noted Auger. “He really swims better when he’s fully tapered and he was at 22.1 (50 freestyle split) and 49.3 (100 freestyle split) in the relays last year. We’re hoping to get a 47 out of him this year in the 100. He just keeps getting better and better.”

Versatile Hunter Kleinschmit should help in the breastroke --- or the backstroke --- or the sprint freestyle races, wherever Auger decides to plug him in. Gus Bell will help set the squad’s sprint paces in the 50 and 100, and Logan Eaton-Strong is a strong challenger in the 500 freestyle. “He’s really had a good fall,” said Auger.

Another soph, Ben Corbett, is Evanston’s top diver heading into the season. Help should also come from classmates Brady Smith (sprints), Oliver Macy (butterfly) and Otello McCollum (sprints).

Freshman to watch are Kieran Hardy (backstroke), Amitai Hailpern (sprints), Eric Hemphill (backstroke) and John Spyrison (500 freestyle).