Lake Forest
LAKE FOREST
Behind the name: In 1857, settlers saw lake to the east, forest to the west.
(Tom Cruze/Sun-Times)
(Tom Cruze/Sun-Times)
Conference:
North Suburban
Colors: Royal blue and gold
Nickname:
Scouts
Enrollment:
1,749
Location: 1285 N. McKinley Rd.
State titles: 12 total, 3 in boys tennis
TOP SPORTS MOMENTS:
1 Coach Lea Maurer's 2003 boys swimming team, led by Matt Grevers and Sammy Kintz, dominated the state meet. Grevers set records in the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke. Kintz won the 100 freestyle. Kintz, Steve Inacker, Brendan Selby and Grevers won the 200 freestyle relay, and Kintz, Inacker, David Ashley and Grevers won the 400 freestyle relay, both in record times.
2 The Lake Forest boys won the 1986 state tennis title as John Noble and Brian Uihlein won in doubles. Coach Corky Leighton's Scouts swept the 2003 and 2004 titles. Tom Wessel and Will Butzlaff, third in doubles, were the highest finishers in 2003, but Drew Eberly, fifth in 2003, came back to win singles in 2004 while Matt Bruch and Alex Lambropoulos won doubles to beat New Trier 39-37.
3 Marlene Miller's girls golfers dominated the 1996 state tournament, scoring 679 strokes to runner-up Homewood-Flossmoor's 694. Abby Derman tied for fifth in the individual competition, Whitney Lamberson finished 10th and Elizabeth Burden 13th. The Scouts came back to win the state championship again in 1998 as Burden finished third and Nancy Taubensee seventh.
4 Coach Lea Maurer's girls swimmers swept the 2002 and 2003 state meets, beating New Trier and Rosary, despite not winning a single individual event. Instead, the Scouts won the 200 and 400 freestyle relays each year. The teams were led by Lindsey Fox, Lisa Hamming, Lindsey Kelly, Agatha Kwasnik, Kristina Lennox, Alyce Mauro, Margaret Vallaly and Kaitlynn Osborn.
5 Alexis Prousis finished second to Naperville Central's Elizabeth Lumpkin for the singles championship in the girls state tennis meet in 2001 and 2002, but it was good enough to boost coach Robert Wageman's Lake Forest team to the team titles on both occasions. Whitney Block and Christian Tara were third in doubles in 2001, and Tara and Kendall Murphy were second in 2002.
WHAT LAKE FOREST MEANS TO ME
By Matt Grevers: The No. 1 male swimmer in the nation as a senior by Swimming World. A three-time NCAA champ at Northwestern, he is training for the Olympics.
When I think back to Lake Forest, I think of good memories, nothing nerve-racking, no pressure, just fun and relaxation. It was a good comfort zone for me. There was more innocent competition back then.
Coaches Lea and Erik Maurer instilled in me a love for swimming. Before Lake Forest, I didn't enjoy swimming. I did it more for my parents. I liked being good at something and happened to be good at swimming.
When I started swimming, my mother was my coach. I swam before I walked. I started to compete when I was 5. I tried other sports. I liked basketball better than swimming and later loved track and field, volleyball and water polo. But I wasn't as good in those sports as swimming.
I preferred high school to club swimming. Club swimming is very individual, what you do and your times. Lake Forest was more about what your team can do, how relays perform and how you do as a whole. I like to rely on others and have them rely on me. It showed me it isn't about self but more about team. It made it more fun to go the pool every day.
I had two points in my career when I knew I was really good. At 10, I set a national record in the 50-yard backstroke and the crowd gave me a standing ovation, something special for a 10-year-old. As a sophomore in high school, I broke the state record in the 100-yard freestyle by 4/100 of a second. Everybody did a double take. They didn't think it was possible.
I got a lot of support at Lake Forest. Swimming is not an unappreciated sport. Our team was more respected and appreciated than teams at most high schools around the country. That means a lot to me. People don't understand the commitment that swimming has at that early stage.
FAMOUS ALUMNI
• Susan Adams: National producer, Dateline NBC.
• Alan Benes: Major-league baseball pitcher.
• Andrew Bird: Musician.
• Barry Byrne: Virginia Root Sutherland Professor of Pediatrics.
• Thierry J. Chaunu: President, Chopard USALimited.
• David Eggers: Writer.
• Charlie Finn: Actor.
• Matt Grevers: Three-time NCAA swimming champion.
• Mindy Meads: President and CEO of Lands End.
• Rob Pelinka: Sports agent.
• Don Tiffany: Actor.
• Vince Vaughn: Actor.
• Catherine Warren: Miss Illinois USA 2006.
• Tim Weigel: Chicago Daily News sportswriter; Chicago television sports anchor and news anchor.