Lake County qualifiers seek big splash

Libertyville senior Ben Glick decided to experiment a little with the 100-yard butterfly at the start of the season.

Now, he will swim that event on Illinois' biggest stage. The two-day IHSA state swimming and diving meet begins today and concludes Saturday at New Trier. Diving begins at 9 a.m. while the swimming preliminaries start at 3:30 p.m.

Glick, who also qualified in the 200-freestyle, is the No. 19 seed in the 100-butterfly (52.11).

What made him focus on a new stroke in his senior season?

"It was really all about that I enjoyed it," Glick said. "I'm having a lot of fun with it."

Libertyville coach Kevin Zakrzewski quickly cleaned up Glick's technique in the butterfly.

"There were some major stroke things that he was able to fix easily," Glick said. "He taught me how to sprint this season."

Glick is the No. 12 seed in the 200-freestyle (1:43.17).

"I'm really confident in the rest my coach has given me and I'm going to go for it," he said. "I definitely want to get top 12, and top six would be amazing."

Mundelein junior Pat Falconer, who is fully tapered for the state meet, will be a threat in the 100-freestyle (46.54) and the 200-freestyle (1:40.77). He is a sixth and fifth seed, respectively.

"We wanted to make sure he would be in the top six going in so he would have a good lane and a good seed," coach Rahul Sethna said. "He just missed medaling at state last year so we're hoping this year he gets the opportunity."

Mundelein sophomore Will Davidson was tapered for sectionals and he responded with personal bests in the 50-freestyle (21.66) and the 100-freestyle (47.91).

"He went so fast in the 50, despite making a couple of mistakes," Sethna said. "We worked on his start and breakout; hopefully he can drop a couple of tenths or hold his time."

Stevenson freshman Ryota Kuwahara deftly handled the sectional pressure and qualified in the 100-butterfly (53.08) and the 200-freestyle (1:45.39).

"He's the youngest double qualifier we've had in this program for awhile," Stevenson coach Greg Hartman said. "The experience will be the most important thing and (possibly) swimming faster than he ever has before."

Even though his goggles fell of halfway through the 500-yard freestyle at sectionals, Warren freshman Danny Conway still qualified (4:50.07). He is within striking distance of the school record (4:47).

"He stands a very good chance," coach Andrew Kittrell said. "I expect it to go down."

The area is well represented in diving as well. Stevenson's Matt Stiefel easily distanced himself from the field with a school-record score of 428 points. Stiefel is the No. 14 seed.

The other area diving qualifiers were Libertyville's Teddy Kelley (385.05), Mundelein's Scott Marthinsen (377.50), Mundelein's David Rieck (371.05) and Warren's Sage Stephens (358.95).