Swimming is one of the few high school sports where an individual athlete can see instant, clear, and tangible evidence of proof of the hard work put forth in the pool. For Matt Gentil, seeing those terrific times are not only satisfying, but further motivation to keep trekking higher towards lower numbers.

The Hand junior began in the water at the age of eight with competitive swimming, and stuck with it as his lone sport. After carving out several postseason successes with the Tigers boys’ swimming and diving co-op team as a sophomore, he has picked up right where he left off, now also as a squad captain, for Hand and its solid first half of the regular season.

“I love the team aspect of swimming. I love swimming with friends and having someone to also joke around with during practices helps to keep me going,” says Matt. “My coaches have been a big help for me, too. They each have different styles of coaching, but the mix of styles helped me. I feel I have done a good job of taking what they say to me to heart, because I know they have my best interests in mind.”

Hand Head Coach Scott Butler has maintained a connection with Matt for some duration of time. While adhering to the pivotal pillars that make a quintessential athlete and competitor, Matt expresses daily his interpersonal skills as a leader.

“I first met Matthew about six years ago when I came on board with Shoreline Aquatic Club in Madison. He came onto the high school scene as a talented youth swimmer who was going to make a splash,” says Butler. “We have been closely working together to ensure that Matthew incorporates the three ingredients for his success. He is striving to be hungry as this season will pose new challenges, as Class L is much stronger. He has been working on self-discipline, assuring that he is attending to his health and his academics throughout the season. And he has shown in the past that he has the third one down pat with his ability to handle the pressure never in doubt. Matt has shown many qualities that show why his peers voted him in as captain. In the pool, he is working hard at gaining his teammates’ trust and respect, leading them through warm-up and during our main workout sets. On the pool deck, he is cheering on his teammates to ensure that they see the qualities a good captain makes.”

Though being part of relay runs, Matt finds that his bread and butter in the water is with the 100 breaststroke. He exclaims that he is more about short bursts of speeds rather than the long haul, though sharing the sentiment of his coach, he is never afraid to traverse into new territory.

“I love the breaststroke, and I am close to the school record in it. I have been doing it for as long as I can remember. I also enjoy doing the 50 breaststroke leg of relays,” Matt says. “I also like the freestyle events, because I feel I am better at the quick events with sprinting. I also enjoy the IM, because it is a longer race but not for distance. I also love catching up on a guy in the back half of it; it drives me to be more competitive. In a meet where we can move around, Coach Butler does it with the lineup, because he wants to help us get out of our comfort zones and try new things, which is great.”

In the midst of this campaign, Matt already had to battle through some physical adversity after overcoming illness, and found himself behind his atypical pace. Though he learned to set acceptance of that current pace, and place himself in a mindset that allowed him to scope the bigger picture.

“I was sick for a few weeks this season, and in a recent meet versus Fairfield Prep, I added time to my events, which you never feel good about,” says Matt. “I can look at that, though, and know I was getting over being sick and the fact that it was only January. So, I knew I had time to get better for the postseason meets. It taught me to look forward with things, and know it will get better and those times will drop.”

Matt feels humbled by the esteemed honor to be selected to a leadership office only as a junior. Yet he adds that it is a way to sort of see behind the fourth wall when it comes to the team’s production.

“Being a captain has been an eye-opening experience having that role to be more of a leader. I make sure to hold my teammates in check if they are not listening to our coaches,” Matt says. “I also see it as a way to sort of look behind the scenes with events like fundraisers, and learning the why when it comes to Coach Butler’s lineups.”

Now as a full fledged co-op family, the Tigers’ scoring formula for their meets may have changed this year, but the camaraderie has been present for some time. Pushing ahead to conference and state title meets, Matt and Hand know they have to snowball the momentum of December and January into later February and March.

“This team has come together very well. We knew each other fairly well from last year, and introducing the freshmen has brought in a good dynamic,” Matt says. “Our goals for the postseason are to do well as a team. We also want to keep the optimism and drive from the regular season into the postseason, where it is a more individual environment but still a good team one.”

As Matt is looking to three-peat as a State Open participant, he has made history at the event–both individually and on the relay front. After being part of a record-breaking squad in relays and setting a new high mark personally, he will harness his focus to one-up himself this year.

“I want to make the State Open again. I was part of the school record 400 free relay team, and I take pride in knowing I was an important leg in that relay. Getting that school record was very rewarding to me,” says Matt. “Getting that personal record time [1:00] for the breaststroke at the State Open and seeing my name on the record board was fulfilling. For me, it is all about having my head in the game, and being locked in to set myself up for postseason success.”