LF_022218

30 | February 22, 2018 | The lake forest leader SPORTS
LakeForestLeader.com
Lanigan, teammates state-bound after Lake Forest sectional
David Jaffe
Freelance Reporter
There are two ways to
qualify for the IHSA boys
swimming state meet.
You can either exceed
the state qualifying standard
in an event or you can
win the event.
Lake Forest’s Luke Lanigan
didn’t beat the state
cut but he dominated the
competition in winning
the 500-yard freestyle Saturday,
Feb. 17 at the Lake
Forest Sectional. As a result
he will be making his
first trip to state by virtue
of automatic qualification.
Lanigan won in a time of
4 minutes, 49.51 seconds,
which was more than 21
seconds faster than the
second-place finisher.
“I was really shocked
when I saw that I had
won,” Lanigan said. “I
knew I had a good shot to
qualify and going in, there
was a very good opportunity
for me. But it felt really
good once I officially
saw that I had won. Making
state was my goal so
things worked out well.”
It didn’t take very long
for Lanigan to realize
that he had a very strong
chance of coming out on
top in the race and earning
the automatic qualification.
“I would say right
around the first 100 is
when I thought I had a
good chance,” Lanigan
said. “I pulled ahead and
kept increasing my lead.
I kept up my energy most
of the time and was in a
good position throughout
the race.”
The 500 is the longest
distance of all the events
so Lanigan knew he needed
to have a strong race
strategy to have a shot at
qualifying.
“I wanted to get off to a
quick start and make sure
I could get ahead as early
as I could,” Lanigan said.
“Once I did that, I was able
to keep my momentum and
maintain the pace I needed
to the rest of the way. I got
a little tired later on but by
then I had a big enough
lead where it didn’t really
affect how I swam.”
A sophomore, Lanigan
has made great strides
from his first season and
has come a very long way.
“Last year I didn’t really
know what my potential
as a swimmer could be,”
Lanigan said. “But by the
end of last year, I started to
realize that I could be good
enough to make it to state.
So that was my goal from
the beginning of this season.
I’ve put the work in
and it’s paid off since I’ve
reached my goal.”
Next week Lanigan is
going to enjoy every minute
of the state meet.
“I’ve been there to
watch my sisters swim,”
Lanigan said. “It’s extremely
intense and high
energy. There are a ton of
fast swimmers. So I’m just
going to enjoy the experience
and look forward
to going against the best
swimmers in the state.”
Lanigan additionally
qualified as part of the
400-freestyle relay with
Colin Robinson, Carlos
Minetti and Oliver Akintade
also by virtue of automatically
qualifying by
winning in 3:17.10. Lake
Forest finished second (212
points) at the sectional.
RIGHT: Andre Josephitis
churns through the water
during the 100-yard
backstroke at Saturday,
Feb. 17, during the Lake
Forest Sectional swim
meet.
The Scouts’ Alexander Ortiz swims the 200-yard individual medley Saturday, Feb. 17, at Lake Forest’s own
sectional. Photos by Ernest Schweit/22nd Century Media