:quality(70):focal(1754x1135:1764x1145)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/M6CNUYX2VJBAXNWCJWNUZYK5RM.jpg)
After failing to medal at the 2023 state swimming meet in the 100-yard freestyle, Jacob Gramer decided to branch out.
The DeKalb-Sycamore senior decided to pick up the butterfly. And he ended this season winning a state championship.
Gramer won the 100 fly and took fifth in the 50 free at the IHSA Swimming and Diving State Championships. The Sycamore senior was named the Daily Chronicle Boys Swimmer of the Year for the third straight year.
“State title, that was just amazing,” Gramer said. “The sectional, getting three team titles in a row, that was just a goal all season. And then a personal goal I had was to win state. So to accomplish all that, it was a very successful season, I would say.”
After last season, Gramer decided to add the butterfly instead of racing strictly at different lengths of the freestyle.
He said the time wasn’t right earlier in his prep career to compete in the fly and didn’t think he would have had the success he had this year.
“I didn’t go for the butterfly because I probably wasn’t as confident in that stroke,” Gramer said. “I was just more confident in the other strokes. It wasn’t until after last season that I realized I should change some things up. As the year went on I trained more butterfly, gained more confidence, and then it paid off in the end.”
In December 2023, he competed in the fly at the Speedo Winter Junior Championships, a national competition featuring the best club swimmers in the country. He took ninth in 48.02 seconds.
DeKalb-Sycamore coach Melanie Chambers said that event showed Gramer what he is capable of.
“After swimming that weekend, he knew for sure he was top three in the state,” Chambers said. “He had his eyes on the prize all season. He just kind of took that and ran with it, really focusing in practice on training in the butterfly.”
Gramer posted a state-winning time of 47.42 after also winning the preliminary race in 47.32.
“He was really happy that first day, couldn’t believe what had happened,” Chambers said. “We talked about it and I didn’t really see any of that pressure hit him until maybe 20 minutes before the race. Then we kind of talked in the moment. He said that he just has to swim his own race, it’s my race to win, and I can’t worry about them. ... And in the end, it worked.”
Gramer took fifth in the 50 free, finishing in 20.47.
The Sycamore senior also helped the co-op win its sectional for a third straight season. Before this current run, the program had never won back-to-back sectionals. It ended up sectional champs every year of Gramer’s career a state series was held.
“Every year, starting from sophomore year, we made it a goal and we trained every day, reminded each other to work hard,” Gramer said. “It paid off.”
Gramer leaves the program with eight DeKalb-Sycamore records. He holds the Huntley Middle School pool record in the 50 free (21.34) and 100 fly (49.53) and the team record in both, with a 20.47 in the free and a 47.32 in the fly. He also was a part of the 200 and 400 free relays that hold Huntley pool records and the 100 and 200 free relays that hold school records.
He’s also the second state champion in program history, joining Daniel Hein, who won the 100 backstroke in 2016.
“It’s really special to have that,” Gramer said. “Going into the state meet, not many people know of DeKalb-Sycamore. We’re kind of the underdogs going in. And to win, it really just shocked some people when someone not from the highly populated suburban areas wins. Especially coming from the Rockford Sectional.”
Gramer will continue his swimming career at Youngstown State and plans on majoring in industrial engineering.
“Every other college visit I went on didn’t feel right until I went there,” Gramer said. “When I went there, I knew I fit. The team liked me. And the school had what I wanted to major in. So it just worked out.”