New Trier alumnae leave mark on NCAA swim championships

The success of Trevians swimmers doesn’t end at New Trier High School, as evidenced by the results of the women’s NCAA championships held March 20-23 at the University of Georgia.

The University of Virginia made the weekend’s biggest splash, picking up its fourth straight NCAA team championship, and sophomore Carly Novelline, a 2022 NTHS graduate, was in on the fun.

Novelline, who was a two-time IHSA backstroke champ, swam the butterfly leg of Virginia’s championship-winning 200-yard medley relay (1 minutes, 31.58 seconds). Novelline’s split was 22.38 seconds, the second-fastest butterfly split at the meet.

Novelline has now had the championship experience in high school and college. At New Trier, she and Kaelyn Gridley led the Trevians to a dominating state championship in 2021. They highlighted a state-record-breaking 200 medley relay.

The former teammates linked up at the NCAA finals. Gridley, competing for Duke University, earned a second All-America finish with a fourth-place result in the 200 breaststroke. Gridley was a three-time IHSA champion in the 100 breaststroke and holds Duke records in the 100 and 200 versions of the event.

She also helped the Blue Devils’ place seventh in the 400 medley relay and swam to 10th in the 100 breaststroke.

Another former Trevian, Greta Pelzek, who graduated in 2021, competed in the NCAAs with the University of South Carolina. A junior, Pelzek placed 10th in the 200 butterfly.

In the NCAA Division III championships, NTHS alumna Jane Sanderson, a ’22 graduate, helped Emory College win a third place team trophy.

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