Stevenson excels at Libertyville's senior night
It wasn't really a fear - maybe more like a challenge for Libertyville's Robert Fisher.
Last year in a dual meet, Fisher, then in his first year of diving, tried a double front flip that resulted in a concussion after he hit the water hard.
But on Thursday evening, the senior diver used that same double front flip in his final dive to come from behind and win the diving event over Stevenson's Matthew Krames 215.15-213.70.
"I've really been working hard on that dive and working on my form in general," said Fisher, one of 10 competitors honored on Libertyville's senior night. "And my parents come to all of the meets, so I wanted to do well, especially on senior night. It was a little nerve-wracking, but I guess I like saving the scariest dive for last - and it was stressful, but I kind of like the pressure that comes along with it."
Fisher was one of four event winners for the Cats, who honored the seniors - Fisher, Jason Ji, Peter Misko, Owen Spinozza, Michael Watson, Andrew Zhang, Jakob Lex, Jordan Mitchell, Jeffrey Lee, and Andrew Fink - a few events into the meet.
But amid all of the hoopla and excitement that usually accompanies such an evening, Stevenson got down to business in racing to a 120-66 North Suburban dual meet victory.
The Pats, who improved to 4-0 in dual meet action, won 8 of the evening's 12 events.
Sophomore Daniel Ng was involved in three victories, including the 100-yard breaststroke (1:02.59).
"I'm a little tired but this is a great environment," said Ng, who also teamed with Karl Wadowski, Andrew Lefebvre, and Nick Baginski to win the 200 medley relay (1:43.15). "We're all swimming really hard and the cheering in here helps pump me up."
Later in the meet, Ng joined forces with Baginski, Maxim Ryaguzov, and Alex Kapecki to win the 200 freestyle relay in 1:30.83.
Wadowski also picked up a victory in the 50 freestyle (23.34), while Baginski raced to a win in the 100 freestyle (49.54).
Other individual event winners for Stevenson included Topher Stensby in the 200 freestyle (1:52.75), John Roh in the 100 backstroke (57.80) and Ethan Ross, who took the 500 freestyle in 5:11.19.
"Libertyville has been on quite a run the last few years in sectionals and at state, so we're pleased to be able to come in here come and kind of take it to them a little bit," said Stevenson coach Doug Lillydahl, whose team meets Libertyville again on Saturday in the Trevian Relays. "We have a lot of pride and try and compete each and every race, whether we're ahead or behind in the meet."
Besides Fisher, Libertyville's other individual event winners included Eric Turner in the 100 butterfly (54.81) and Noah Jamieson in the 200 IM (2:01.53).
The 400 freestyle relay team of Turner, Sean Coughlin, Nick Harrington, and Jamieson also picked up a victory for the Cats in last event of the night when they swam a 3:23.07.
"We're pretty excited and having a lot of fun tonight. We're right at a lot of our season-bests," said Cats coach Mike Cunningham, who team slipped to 2-2 in NSC duals this season. "And our seniors, they've been a great group."