By Terin Frodyma on SwimSwam
In less than a week, the New Trier High School Boys Swimming and Diving Team in Illinois will have the opportunity to eclipse 1,000 dual meet victories in the team’s storied history.
“You just feel like, wow, it’s pretty amazing. It’s very humbling, and also a little intimidating,” said New Trier Head Coach Josh Runkle in an interview with SwimSwam.
Runkle is in his 12th season as Head Coach at New Trier High School and has continued to see success throughout his time at the helm, including a 2018 IHSA State Championship, runner-up finishes in 2023 and 2024, and numerous CSL Conference and IHSA Sectional Championship titles.
New Trier’s roster is made up of over 100 swimmers, separated into freshman, junior varsity, and varsity squads.
“You know, the freshmen are really good, the JV kids are good, the JV two groups are really good, the team as a whole is really good,” Runkle said, “we have a really good community that’s really supportive of the program, and the kids buy into this stuff.”
The program’s milestone nearly went unrecognized: one of Runkle’s assistants on staff kept spreadsheets of team information and added them to previous seasons. Just before the start of the 2025-2026 campaign, Runkle noticed that the all-time wins number was at 997.
“It’s been well over 110 years that we have been a program,” Runkle added, “we have always been a good dual meet team because we have depth… it helps that we have about 100 kids in our program and they keep coming out.”
Runkle reminisced about his father winning his 100th dual meet as a head coach. Now, just like his father, Runkle has the chance to reach a milestone for his own program.
“He was a great coach,” Runkle said about his father. “I remember, I think it took him probably 20 years to win 100 duals, and I remember thinking how cool 100 was and how amazing that thing is. And now I am getting to do that kind of thing, you know, it’s something that gives you a sense of pride in what you do.”
Though the team results speak for themselves, Runkle finds that it’s the swimmers, not always just as athletes, but as students and people, that make New Trier’s success so special.
“When people ask me about how good my team is, I tell them, ask me again in 10-15 years, that’s how we know how good our team is,” Runkle said. “98 or 99% of our kids at New Trier go onto college, and they go onto amazing schools. I feel fortunate that we get, I think, kind of the cream of the crop in a lot of ways… then they turn out to be good people, we’re just lucky.”
New Trier will face Maine South on Friday, January 9th, in their home pool, for the chance to win their 1,000th dual meet.
“We were really hoping that we would be at home when this happens,” Runkle said, “It’s kind of nice, I like the possibility of [ winning the 1,000 dual meet] against somebody who I have a lot of respect for, and appreciation for their program. They do things the right way as well.”
When asked what he wants this team to remember by being a part of the “1,000th dual meet winning team”, Runkle simply said that he wants them to realize they are “a part of something special.”
“I think it makes this group a little more special. The 25-26 team will be known as the one that won the thousand.” Runkle said. “It is so cool that everyone else did the work to get us to this point, but we’re the ones that get to cross the goal line.”
“Throughout my career, I just have kept saying that I’ve been really lucky, and I was at the right place at the right time,” Runkle answered when asked what he wants to be remembered by when he one day steps away from New Trier High school and coaching. “I want to be the guy that continued the success, and added to it.”
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