North Central College Athletics

The advice of a friend led to the discovery of an extended family for Greg Sego ‘92, who rebooted hiscollege experience after a disappointing first year and wound up becoming one of the most decoratedcompetitors in the history of the North Central College men’s swimming program.

Sego initially enrolled at the University of Miami hopeful to contribute to a nationally-renowned team,but he soon discovered the atmosphere would not be conducive to athletic or academic success.Conversations with longtime friend Mark Townsend ’91, who had just gone through a similarexperience, led Sego to find the ideal dynamic he sought closer to home in Naperville.

“Mark and I have been friends since we were little kids,” Sego said. “When my first year at Miami hadgone poorly, he and I talked, it was clear to him that my experience was a lot like his freshman year hadgone at the University of Iowa. We sat down and he helped me understand the value of being at asmaller liberal-arts school, and the value of the swimming program as well, but I was more drawn by thefact that he said he felt more at home.”

Upon enrolling at North Central in fall 1989, Sego fell in with a talented group of swimmers that wouldgo on to post a seventh-place finish at the 1990 NCAA Division III National Championships. Sego woundup becoming a focal point of that effort, earning All-America honors in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke events as well as the 200- and 400-yard medley and freestyle relays. The Cardinals’ 200 and 400 medleyrelays each placed third nationally.

“We knew walking into it that we had some great opportunities on the national level,” Sego said, “but Iwouldn’t call them goals. With four guys who could swim the freestyle and the other strokes well, weknew there were possibilities to do well in the relays, but it was really about giving it all we had anddoing it together. It was very much like a family.”

Sego earned five more All-America honors in 1991, highlighted by sixth-place finishes in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, as North Central placed 14th at the national meet. As a senior, he won College Conference ofIllinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) titles in three individual events and was named the conference’s Most Valuable Swimmer before capping off his career by placing fourth in the 200 backstroke and seventh inthe 100 backstroke at the national championships.

Now in the position to counsel high-school students on their college choice, Sego values the sense ofperspective he gained by changing gears during his college experience.

“I went off to school like a lot of 18 year-olds do, with a lot of aspirations, and my first choice was not agood fit for me,” he said. “I work in a high school now, and the motto above the door to our post-highschool counseling office is, ‘College is a match to be made, not a prize to be won.’ I treated it like a prizeto be won, but at North Central I gained the value of perspective.

“No matter what happens in the pool or the classroom, in the end, it’s about the relationships and thefriends that I forge. That’s going to be the legacy I leave and my measure as a man.”