LF_011019

30 | January 10, 2019 | The lake forest leader SPORTS
LakeForestLeader.com
Boys Swimming
Young Scouts gain experience at talent-packed invite
NEIL MILBERT
Freelance Reporter
Finishing in the bottom
half of an 18-team
regular-season invitational
doesn’t sound like
a victory, but when the
meet comprises some of
the state’s best, success is
relative.
Lake Forest finished
13th, and coach Cindy
Noll wasn’t complaining.
“What we get out of a
meet like this is experience,”
she said. “Where
we were seeded in this
meet was perfect for our
team. We have a super
young team. We had only
one senior here.
“We got competition we
don’t normally get. That
experience is key right
now.”
Lake Forest’s Oliver Akintade swims the butterfly stroke as part of his 200-yard
individual medley Saturday, Jan. 5, at the Evanston Invitational. Photos by Carlos
Alvarez/22nd Century Media
Neuqua Valley dethroned
New Trier as
champion of the meet, and
Stevenson earned second
place in the 54th annual
Evanston Swimming and
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Diving Invitational held
Saturday, Jan. 5.
Glenbrook South took
third, and Loyola Academy
came in fourth.
There were eight individual
swimming events,
each with six heats, and
three relays, each with
three heats.
Points were awarded to
the first 16 finishers. Winners
of the relays collected
40 points; in the individual
events, the winners
picked up 20.
Placing was based on
the contestants’ times in
their heats.
The best showings
for Lake Forest were an
eighth by sophomore Colin
Kingsley in the 500-
yard freestyle and an 11th
by junior Luke Lanigan in
the 200 freestyle.
Noll said Lanigan is one
of the leaders on the team,
as well as senior Carlos
Minetti.
The Scouts coach also
was pleased with the performances
of junior Oliver
Akintade in the 200
individual medley and 100
breaststroke and freshman
Sidd Ojha in the 100 butterfly
and 100 backstroke.
“Oliver is an outstanding
soccer player,” Dell
pointed out. “He’ll play
soccer in college. He’s
an incredible athlete, and
we’re blessed to have his
Scouts freshman Sidd Ojha competes in the 100 backstroke
during the invite.
Greg Damidot gets to the butterfly during his individual
medley race.
athleticism to add to our
team.”
Other results
The top performers for
Glenbrook South were
sophomore Max Iida, victorious
in the 200 individual
medley and second in
the 100 breaststroke, and
junior Mike Hadjiivanov,
first in the 50 freestyle and
third in the 100 freestyle.
They also swam for the
third place 200 medley relay
team and the 200 freestyle
relay team.
Loyola was led by a
pair of juniors — Luke
Maurer, the winner of
both the 100 freestyle and
the 200 freestyle, and Everet
Andrew, first in the
500 freestyle and second
in the 200 freestyle.
Both also contributed
to the Ramblers’ second-
Please see Scouts, 26