Last week, the boys swim and dive team took second place against Stevenson at a home dual meet. This was the second meet of the year, but nonetheless was still an unfortunate loss against a phenomenal Stevenson squad.
More recently, the Scouts took on Warren yesterday at home and unfortunately suffered an extremely disappointing loss. Warren managed to edge them out by just two points in the end, capping off an otherwise strong showing from the varsity swimmers. Senior swimmer and varsity captain William Paschke explained, “A two point loss is really one of the worst losses we could have.” However, he continued, “I think everyone swam really great today… there was a lot of team spirit, which has been improving over the course of the season.”
Sophomore Luke Lanigan has taken a leadership role on this year’s team, and although Luke typically dominates the 500 freestyle, he elected to skip it for this particular meet in preparation for the Lake County Meet tomorrow. Nevertheless, yesterday was certainly not a break for Luke. For the first time this season, Luke switched to the 100 freestyle. Although he’s swam the 100 free many times in the “Scout Relay” (400 freestyle relay), this was his first time swimming it in a non-relay event this year. He faced off against the likes of team captain Will Paschke (who placed first in the 100 backstroke) and Junior Carlos Minetti (commonly known as Mr. 23, referencing his typical time in the 50 free) and managed to take second place, losing only to a young man from Warren. He informed The Forest Scout, “It was fun, mostly because I don’t usually swim the 100, so it’s kind of rare for me to face off against Carlos and Will.”
As mentioned earlier, the Scouts look forward to an exciting Lake County Meet tomorrow. This will be taking place at Stevenson, and diving will be kicking off around 7:00 am with swimming at 11. Future exciting events include match-ups against Libertyville on January 10th and Zion Benton on the 18th. Also, the LFHS Swimming and Diving Team will get a rematch against Stevenson at their invite on the 3rd of February. Paschke felt confident for this chance for redemption, saying, “We’ll be much stronger by then. I’m truly excited to see what this season has in store for us.”
