Some people work their entire lives to get to the point where Norwich senior Trey Ostrom is now as a swimmer. And most never do achieve what Ostrom accomplished last weekend at the Section IV Swimming and Diving Championships.
Unlike many of the standout swimmers Norwich has produced over the last 40 years or so, Ostrom is not the typical Tornado athlete who began to swim competitively before he even reached the first grade. In fact, Ostrom, who spent a great deal of his life living in Florida, never swam competitively until he joined the Norwich varsity team as a freshman three years ago.
“That first year was almost like a learning-how-to-swim year for Trey,” said Norwich head coach Jon Aikins, who has piloted the Tornado the past three seasons. “Rick (Marchant) was Trey’s coach his first year and taught him the basics. Rick probably had no idea Trey would be this good.”
How well did Trey perform this season? He is unbeaten in every individual race, and he became one of just a handful of Norwich swimmers in the 49-year history of the program to swim the 100-yard freestyle in under 50 seconds. Ostrom not only won the Section IV Class B title in the 100-yard free a week ago at Owego High School, but he had the best time in the entire section. As the number three seed in the 50-yard freestyle, Ostrom swam his best times of the season winning the Class B and overall section titles in that event, too.
Ostrom has the second-best time in school history in the 100-yard free behind Dan Holmberg, and is the first person from Norwich to sweep the 50 and 100 at sectionals since Holmberg pulled off the same unique double in 2002. For his standout performances, the NHS swimmer is our choice this week as Evening Sun/Smith Ford LLC Athlete of the Week.
“I never thought it would go this far,” said Ostrom, who is taking aim at Holmberg’s school records for the state meet next week in Buffalo. “I know a lot of people I swim against have 10 or more years experience. It’s pretty mind boggling.”
Despite his novice level as a freshman swimmer, Ostrom, then 25 pounds heavier, found a way to break the one-minute barrier in the 100-yard freestyle. Still, he wasn’t on anybody’s radar, although he did drop his times his second season, and made the consolation finals of the Class B meet. He finished perhaps in 14th of 15th-place position, and was still a long way from where he is today.
“My first year (Trey’s sophomore year), I had just nine kids and I wasn’t looking at any individual talent,” Aikins said. “My focus was to try and rebuild our team and bring us back to the same level in our hey day.”
Aikins admitted that not only was Ostrom not on the sectional radar, but wasn’t on his radar either. “He was just one of the guys, just an average swimmer and nothing outstanding,” Aikins said recalling his first year with Ostrom. “Nobody was even looking at him.”
After his sophomore year, Ostrom underwent a dramatic body change. Aikins had instituted some out-of-pool conditioning that include core development and weight training. Ostrom, through his own perseverance and hard work, made over his body from a soft, somewhat flabby swimmer into a lean powerhouse who became explosive in the water.
Still learning the nuances of swimming such as breathing and the proper flip turn, Ostrom cut several seconds off his best times as a junior reaching the 53-second mark in the 100 by season’s end. Still, breaking the 50-second barrier seemed like a reach as he entered his senior season.
“A 53-second guy in the 100 is pretty good, and people thought maybe he could get to 51 this year,” Aikins said. “Right off the bat (this year), he was getting his best times. Every time he swam, he got better and kept setting personal-bests.”
Ostrom broke the 51-second mark during the regular season, and that was well before he began the tapering process. For those unfamiliar with swimming procedure, tapering begins late in the season in preparation for the big meets. Swimmers trim their usual output of yardage in practice with the hope the added strength from that decreased yardage will improve times.
Ostrom clearly benefited from the taper with his stunning victories – and times. Ostrom’s winning time in the 100 of 49.32 is within striking range of the school record, while his 50 clocking of 22.49 is also among the elite performances in NHS history. Aikins, a historian of Norwich swimming, said that Ostrom’s off-the-charts learning curve in the sport puts his senior standout among the most unique athletes in Norwich swimming.
“He was just learning how to swim three years ago,” Aikins said. “I’m sure something like this has happened before, but he is probably one of the few to ever have this type of career.”
A diamond in the rough as a freshman, Ostrom now has the polish and shine of the most seasoned swimmers. And the bad news for his opposition, he’s still getting better.