Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
(written by Hannah Bevis, Student Sports Information Assistant)
Feb. 8, 2016 - Many athletes have an interesting story about how they started playing their sport. For many, it's because of a love of the game passed down from family or friends. For North Central College junior Trey Bennington, learning to swim was born out of necessity.
"I fell in a lake when I was little and my dad had to go fish me out. So I did swimming lessons right after that…that was probably when I was three," said Bennington. He grinned, then added, "(My mom) said I had the shoes that light up when you stomp on them, and that's how they saw me in the water."
Although he found himself in the pool at an early age, swimming initially was not Trey's preferred sport. He was a multi-sport athlete growing up, and swimming was undertaken to fill the time in between other activities.
"I played a bunch of sports when I was growing up, and then my mom wanted me to swim, so like, I'd just swim in the summer and then do basketball or volleyball in the winter," he said. "In high school, it was never really my main focus, it was more just offseason for football."
After high school, Bennington stepped away from the pool when he decided to attend the University of Missouri, a NCAA Division I institution that he fell in love with as soon as he saw the campus. After attending for a year and a half, he started struggling with academics and a variety of other factors, which ultimately led him away from Mizzou. He loved the school, he says, and he'll miss going to a big college, but it just wasn't working out for him.
"I'll still watch Mizzou football games and basketball games, and I'll definitely miss it tailgating and just being around 30,000 people your own age - it's a once in a lifetime thing," he said. "But there are a lot of pros to going to North Central, too. I think it's easier to make close friends here, it's easier to get to know people in your classes."
After the difficult decision to leave Missouri, Bennington started taking classes at the College of DuPage, but after a year, decided he didn't want to return. That's when fate intervened, and a North Central alumnus who'd taken a very similar college career path to Bennington stepped in: the Cardinals' new head coach, Mark Schmitt '06.
Like Bennington, Schmitt also went the Division I route out of high school before transferring; like Bennington, he also went to the College of DuPage, and like Bennington, he'd walked away from the pool and had no intention of returning until a coach from North Central reached out and asked him to try.
"I was very surprised," said Bennington. "And I wasn't at the level where I should've been a college swimmer. I was out of shape, and when I was in high school I wasn't amazing."
But Schmitt saw something in Bennington that made him think he could accomplish more as a college athlete. Maybe it was because he saw himself in Bennington - a transfer student who had stepped away from the sport, but had the potential to come back better than he'd ever been. Whatever the reason, Schmitt is beyond happy with Bennington's decision to swim at North Central, and says he's been a crucial part of the revamped swimming program.
"I am incredibly proud of the dedication Trey has shown this season," said Schmitt. "He demonstrates the exact attitude that I am looking for in my athletes...have goals, dedicate yourself, and work hard to achieve them."
This is Bennington's first year ever competing in any form of college athletics, but he's already far surpassed his goals for the season. He recently set a lifetime personal record in the 100 yard freestyle, finishing in 58.77 seconds and breaking the one-minute barrier for the first time. It was, for him and his teammates, one of the highlights of his season. Some of his friends were so nervous about whether he'd break the minute mark that they turned around for his final lap, unable to watch him finish. But once he did, he was mobbed by his teammates.
"It was kind of surreal. It was like, everything that I had wanted from the entire season I had gotten three weeks early," said Bennington. "But it was like exciting for me and to see how my team reacted, it was really fun."
Where Bennington's swimming career goes from here is anyone's guess. He wants to come back and swim next season for the Cardinal as he finishes out his senior year. From there, he may go to law school, but right now, he says he's weighing his options. Whatever his decision may be, he's grateful for the short time he's had at North Central thanks to his family, his team, and his coach.
The Cardinals compete in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Championships at the Pleasant Prairie RecPlex in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, from Thursday through Saturday. More information about the meet can be found at cciw.org.
