Shattering records: Oswego swimming & diving earns accolades at State

On Nov. 14 and 15, OE senior Katie Malm shattered the IHSA State record and earned first place in her dive in the 2025 IHSA Girls Swimming & Diving State Finals.

Many girls in the OE and OH combined swim and dive team went to State, held at the FMC Natatorium in Westmont, and competed, contributing to the team’s outstanding Sectionals and State performance.

“Katie is an incredible athlete,” said Coach and OH Career & Technical Education Ryan Pentzian. “She has all the skills and all the head space to succeed in her stuff.”

Success is not new for Malm, as she had already won State last year. She did not underestimate her performance, and due to last year’s win, she went for a bigger goal this year: beating the state record.

“We were looking ahead to next year and the record being 509, it isn’t that crazy and not totally out of reach. So we had our sights on that alongside a couple of other goals,” Pentzian says.

Though her performance is constantly outstanding, it’s not all lightwork for Malm. Last year, she won state even while she was coming out of knee surgery. But, she did not settle for that; she did intense work during her off-season to come back even better for this year’s season.

“When she came back her senior year, she was already head and shoulders above state winning Katie from a year ago. She was jumping higher, she was stronger, we added a bunch of new dives for her to do,” said Pentzian.

Her insane drive and determination is what has gotten her to this point, giving her qualities of an olympian. Pentzian said that “the original record was 509, she took the record up to 515. It was a 22-year-old record held by Christina Lucas, who was a US Olympian in 2008 and 2012.”

Malm’s grand accomplishments weren’t the only impressive thing about the team’s state performance.

“Molly Gonzalez was a state finalist. She had a fantastic couple of swims. Same thing with Addi Miller, she did a bang up job,” said Pentzian.

As for OH swimmers and divers, senior Maddie Liska, sophomore Claire Flanigan, and sophomore Vera Skunibiak were swim and dive State qualifiers as well.

“I improved four seconds from beginning to end,” reported Skunibiak.

Winning is nowhere near new for the OH and OE swim and dive team.

“We have won conference for the past 18 years, so, like, we wanna win every year,” Flanigan said.

Their prior accomplishments are what drives them to keep doing the same, which is what makes their team so unique. Their drive does not only come from hard work, but from the family they build as a team.

“Everybody just works hard on the team and then all the seniors this year…they really helped,” Skunibiak says.

Flanigan shared the same appreciative feelings. She said the reason that she succeeded this year is because “a lot of the seniors were helping with coaching, and I think that made it a lot better.”

She added more about the familial feeling by saying, “we all are really close because we’re all in similar clubs, and we’ve known each other for many years, even before high school, and I think that makes us successful because we push each other, and we’re just like family.”

The coach is also impressed with the team’s family relationship.

When asked how he feels about the team’s accomplishments he said, “In general, all these girls are fantastic with each other, they’re all naturally just great friends. They help to loosen up and keep that positive attitude, which I think over a long and stressful season, is a great thing to have.”

Overall, besides the accomplishing record they already hold, the team has improved significantly. These improvements are due to the motivation they have, and the friendships that keep powering them through.

“I’m definitely excited for next year,” said Skunibiak.