Oswego East Student-Athlete of the Week-Chloe Diner

Oswego IL

22 October, 2021

11:38 AM

Description

For sophomore Chloe Diner, swimming is in her DNA. Her two older siblings were both competitive swimmers, so Chloe grew up in and around the sport. However, Chloe has managed to forge her own path, and her dedication and determination to succeed are why she is this week's Oswego East student-athlete of the week. Chloe started her swimming career for Delta Aquatics at just five years old. As a junior high student, Chloe recognized swimming as something she wanted to strive to be as competitive in as possible. As a freshman, Chloe was nominated to be the freshman representative on the swim council, which has a swimmer from each grade level meet to have a voice in the direction of the program. "We try to make sure everyone is having fun and cheering everyone on, keeping a positive energy," says Chloe. Elise Diner, Chloe's mom, believes the council has has a positive impact on both Chloe and the team, saying, "It was a great idea stemming from the desire to foster more inclusivity among the lower and upperclassman swimmers." She goes on to say, "There are lots of positive takeaways for Chloe, including the chance as a freshman to interact with the seniors and give her class a voice and meet with the head coach to plan team events." Swimming requires hours of dedication and training each day, and the pandemic put a major strain on swimmers everywhere as indoor pools were forced to shut down. However, Chloe would find ways to overcome those obstacles by modifying her swimming schedule. "The biggest takeaway lesson was that the hard work must continue," says Elise. She goes on to add, "Early on in the pandemic, when everything was shut down, including the pools, we had to get creative about swim conditioning. Our kind neighbors, who have a pool, installed a pool heater. So by April, despite the closures, Chloe was in the water swimming on a bungee cord to keep up her training." That training has helped secure Chloe's position as one of the top swimmers for the Oswego co-op team. Currently, Chloe swims in the 100 freestyle and 100 breaststroke, but it is the 200 individual medley where she truly shines. "I would consider it my best event and I always have good people to race, which pushes me to go faster than my usual times," says Chloe. Last season, despite there being no state meet, Chloe was close to meeting the state mark for the 200 IM. She has made it her personal goal this year to qualify for the state meet in that event, and based on times throughout the year, she is on pace to do so. Head coach Bob Spurnger believes she can, saying, "Chloe swam well at the Metea Invite last weekend." He goes on to say, "Chloe was able to capture first place in the 200 IM, second place in the 100 Free, and was a member of the first place 200 medley relay and 200 free relay team." Chloe's success in the pool translates to the classroom as well. As only a sophomore, Chloe is enrolled in many rigorous courses such as AP Language, AP US Government/Politics, Honors Civil Engineering, Honors Pre-Calculus, and Honors Chemistry. Combined with the demand of being successful in the pool, Chloe has learned to excel in the area of time management. "She swims six days a week, and during peak season, she has double practice, where you are in the pool at 5:30 AM before school and again in the afternoon," says Elise. She adds, "Some nights they have dual meets and don't get home until later in the evening for a quick dinner and homework. It's a demanding schedule, but Chloe has found a way to balance it." As a sophomore, Chole has goals of swimming in college and majoring in engineering, something that is also a family affair with parents, both grandfather, and an older brother all working in the field. Although Chloe has the mathematical and science acumen to succeed in this field, her AP English teacher, Justin Query, believes she has the capacity and strengths to succeed in any field. "The most tremendous strength as a student that Chloe possesses is her ability to pivot when academics of a course at first become challenging," says Justin. He goes on to say, "Once Chloe understood the climate of my classroom, she was no longer the reticent, sometimes quiet student that she was in the first few days. Chloe strikes me as a student who can do anything. Her tenacity and her curiosity are going to take her many, many places." Chloe's tenacity has her in a position to help her team earn a conference championship this weekend, as well as find individual success next week during the sectional meet. Her advice to future Wolves is to, "be open to a lot of people because the majority of people at East are kind, and make sure to make really good friends with your teammates because it makes the sport so much more fun." Despite having accomplished so much as only a sophomore, Chloe continues to remain as determined as ever and will continue to set new goals as she accomplishes her old ones.