Two Stevenson Swimmers Lead Team to 10th in State

James Lichtenstein was in sixth place after the diving preliminaries on Friday. But the junior made a few adjustments and nailed his final three dives on Saturday, to finish third in the state with a 405.15.

“I just hit all my last three dives,” Lichtenstein said. “I felt real good out there.”

Langston Fitts also moved up from sixth place on Friday in the 50-yard freestyle, finding some extra energy to finish with fourth in 21.28 seconds.

“The energy of the crowd really got me going,” said Fitts, who also placed fourth in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 46.63.

“I never swam in finals before and it is an amazing experience. It got me off to a great start.”

Fitt was also part of the 200-yard freestyle relay team. He, along with Chris Hodges, Daniel Shtivelberg and Ryota Kuwahara, finished 11th in 1:27.32.

“Today was a great day,” Stevenson coach Greg Hartman said. “We did everything we were hoping to do. We held par and in many cases, shot under it.”

’s Ian Rodriguez came back from a disqualification earlier in the meet, to claim 8th place in the backstroke.

Rodriguez was disqualified on the 200-yard medley relay in the third race of the day. But the senior pulled himself together in the day’s 11th race to finish in a career-best time of 58.35 seconds.

“I was really upset with myself,” Rodriguez said. “But I knew I couldn’t do anything about it. I just got down into it. And I wanted my last race to be the best I could do.”

“He told me that this was the last one we were swimming it together and he would make it a good one,” Buffalo Grove coach Jaime Klotz. “I am so proud of the way he came back.”

Want more from Buffalo Grove Patch? Like us on Facebook and subscribe to our daily e-newsletter for all the latest information!