LeVasseur's hard work in pool pays off with state apperance in 100 backstroke

SPRINGFIELD – Edwardsville's Porter LeVasseur helped the Tiger boys swimming team to their first-ever IHSA sectional championship in the Feb. 17 meet at Eisenhower Pool in Springfield.

LeVasseur himself had a big day; he qualified for this weekend's IHSA Boys Swimming Championship in Evanston with a fifth-place finish in the 100 backstroke, one of five swimmers in the event to advance to state; the winner, Alton's Noah Clancy advanced by winning, the other four swimmers – including LeVasseur – advancing by meeting the qualification time set by the IHSA.

LeVasseur and diver Owen Kaufmann will be representing the Tigers at the state meet, which begins Friday and runs through Saturday; it's something LeVasseur is very excited about. “It's an amazing feeling to finally go up to state and represent my school,” LeVasseur said. “It's undescribable; it's amazing.

“If I have a good swim and drop a little time, judging on last year, I could make the finals, so that's the goal.”

LeVasseur knows that there will be many tough schools and competitors at the state meet, most of them from the Chicagoland area. “There's a lot of tough schools around here,” LeVasseur said. “In the backstroke event, we had five guys qualify for state, and that's by far the hardest event we had here.”

For the state meet, LeVasseur is aiming to get into the 51-second range for his event, “drop a second or a second-and-a-half,” LeVasseur said, “maybe 50 (seconds); my main goal is to make it to the finals.”

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