It was Nina Osborne’s second straight trip to State. 

Again, the swimmer qualified as an individual in the 500-yard freestyle. 

Again, Osborne led off Community’s 200-yard freestyle relay. 

And a first, the senior would race in a third event—the 400-yard freestyle relay. 

That would be Osborne’s only first of the 2022 IHSA State Swimming and Diving competition.  

She’d finish 25th in the state in the 500-yard freestyle prelims, posting a time almost a full six seconds slower than her State performance the season prior.

Community’s 200- freestyle relay team placed 21st, edging out three of the bottom four teams by less than a second.

In the 400- freestyle relay, the Iron finished 23rd—second to last.

Osborne failed to advance past Nov. 11’s preliminary round of competition.

She felt a sense of victory. 

Just to make the trip to Westmont, just to stand on the starting blocks, just to swim along some of the top competitors in 1- and 2-A was a victory this season.  

“To be able to compete at all,” Osborne thought, was its own reward, her battle back to State an accomplishment all its own.

For six weeks, more than half the season, Osborne was out of action, out of the pool, out of training. 

Out with a double ear infection.

Out with a burst eardrum.

In excruciating pain. 

“It was the most painful thing in my entire life,” Osborne said.

Osborne was sidelined during the heart of the season when other swimmers were cutting time, tapering ahead of Sectionals. 

Osborne was out of shape. 

When the senior returned to practice in early October, she was playing catch up. With only a few short weeks left until Nov. 5’s Sectionals, she had little over a month to get into end-of-season shape. 

This was the second most painful experience of Osborne’s life.

“Coach Budak wanted me to just come straight back,” Osborne said, “and pick up where I left off like nothing had happened.”

No ear infection. No double ear infection. No burst eardrum. 

The process, the practices, the month… “was painful,” Osborne said, “but it was necessary to get back in shape quickly.” 

The senior’s goal for the Sectional meet was “just to try and score some points for the team.” 

Her expectations were low—she wasn’t thinking about State, wasn’t thinking about dropping time.

“I didn’t think it was physically possible,” she said, “having been out for most of the season right before Sectionals.”

She was thinking about the team—they were the defending Sectional champions after all.

Pain again—the 500-yard freestyle. 

20 lengths of the pool.

Down and back.

Nineteen turns.

Down and back. 

Muscles burning.

Down and back.

Lungs aching. 

Down and back. 

A test of endurance, of grit. 

Down and back. 

“It hurts worse than any other event,” Osborne said. 

“But,” she said, “at the same time, it feels better than any other event.” 

Passing that test of stamina, that test of will brings a flood of emotions. 

First, relief; then, reward: a sense of accomplishment, of personal pride. 

For Osborne, at the Sectional, it brought a trip to the top of the podium—a first-place finish. 

It meant a trip to State—a trip that weeks ago seemed not just improbable, but impossible.

Swimming at State, Osborne demonstrated her unwavering ability to endure.