EDWARDSVILLE – Laine Curry and Morgan Mitton qualified for two individual events each for Edwardsville, while freshman Alexi Albertyn qualified for two events for O’Fallon, as the Tigers won their 13th consecutive IHSA girls swimming sectional meet Saturday afternoon at the Chuck Fruit Aquatic Center.
Edwardsville won the title with 312.5 points, while the Panthers were second at 199 points, Springfield was third with 165 points, Chatham Glenwood was fourth at 119.5 points, and Jacksonville came in fifth with 27 points.
The Edwardsville swimmers have been preparing all season for the sectional meet, and their hard work paid off in a major way, as all of the entries qualified for the state meet next weekend in Westmont.
“It was a really good meet for us today,” said Tigers’ coach Christian Rhoten. “Obviously, the girls have been preparing for it for 13 weeks,” going back to a theme that was brought up with 13 being a magic number. All 13 of Edwardsville’s entries made it to the state meet; it was the Tigers’ 13th straight sectional championship, and the state meet begins on Nov. 13. “We’re looking forward to qualifying as many as we did up at state, quite a big number for us. We got everyone that we kind of assumed we would. There were some that they had to make the cut on, so it’s feeling good going into next weekend.”
In some cases, both of Edwardsville’s entrants in a particular event both qualified, which helped the Tigers tremendously.
“We had the 200 (yard freestyle) qualifying two,” Rhoten said, “the 100 (yard backstroke) qualifying two, even just out of our sectional, having four in the 50 (yard freestyle) is pretty impressive. We were confident in our athletes, and they were confident in themselves. They put in all the work, and they really executed well today.”
Getting the three relay teams into the state meet testifies well to the Tigers’ depth and flexibility in their roster.
“We have a deep team,” Rhoten said, “to say the least. So, we were able to mix them up a little bit in the sectional meet, get all three to state, and then, we’ll probably reevaluate who’s on those, and who can place the best once we get to the state meet.”
The defending diving champion, Natalie Kaiser, qualified for the state meet by winning the competition, and Rhoten is looking ahead to seeing her compete at the finals.
“She had a really good morning,” Rhoten said. “She was really nervous for it, and I told her you don’t really need to be nervous for it.’: he said with a laugh. “You’re diving better than you did last year.’ ” She’s so strong, so powerful, and she was able to nab our team record again for the 11 dives, crushing her old record) by about 20 points. She’s going to be looking to make that cut, and possibly get into the top 16 come Friday.”
Overall, Rhoten likes his team’s chances of doing well at the state meet.
“It’s a really good group not only athletically, but they’re all good friends,” Rhoten said. “They’ve been swimming together forever, so they’re like family to each other. It’s just exciting to bring such a big group. It’s going to be a nice little mix of people; this is their third trip up, or fourth trip up here. And then, we have a couple of freshmen in the mix who have never been as an athlete. They’ve been spectators, potentially, but it’s a different feeling when you’re on the other side of the barrier there, when you’re on the deck. So, having the upperclassmen, juniors and seniors, who’ve been there, who know what it’s going to be like, guiding the freshmen through, is going to be good.”
Although Alton didn’t qualify a swimmer for the state meet, the Redbirds had good efforts all throughout the meet, and also took a medal for a relay event.
“I think my girls have done extremely well,” said longtime Alton head coach Nancy Miller. “I have a batch of new freshmen, five of them, and they are mostly summer swimmers, but I have two year-around swimmers in that group. And they have really risen to the occasion and have really performed beautifully.”
One of the freshmen to watch for the Redbirds is Alvina Farley, who swam very well and has a bright future ahead.
“Alvina is a girl that swam for me when the Tidalwaves were still active,” Miller said. “Six years ago, she was an eight-and-under girl, and I knew her potential then, that she would rise up and grow up, and become a beautiful, great, talented swimmer, and she really has. She’s in her freshman year, and so far, she just led off our 200-yard (freestyle) relay that got sixth place overall and won a medal. I’m just thrilled for her. She had a very bright future in the sport.”
With the five freshmen swimmers on the team. the future does indeed look very promising for Alton.
“Absolutely,” Miller said with an enthusiastic smile, “and not only that, but they just have great attitudes. They’re not only sweet girls, but they have wonderful attitudes. They love to swim, they love to compete, and they’re just fun to coach.”
Just the fact that the Redbird swimmers competed hard makes them winners in Miller’s point of view.
“Everyone wants a winner,” Miller said, “but to me, to win means doing your absolute best you can do. Because not everybody can be the Olympic champion, not everybody can be the state champion. But everybody can strive to be their absolute personal best every day. And that’s what I think my girls have done today. That’s what it’s all about.”
Miller also expressed her gratitude for being the Alton head swimming coach, and how proud she is of the Alton community itself.
“I am just proud I am to represent Alton High School, and our school district,” Miller said. “It’s a great place to work, it’s a great place to be, and I’m very privileged to be their coach.”
The Tigers team of Greta Deist, Alex Suhre, Reilly Curry, and Ashley Hong qualified in the opening event, the 200-yard medley relay, with a time of 1:47.94, with O’Fallon second at 1:55.96, and Freeburg was third at 2:00.26. Laine Curry qualified in the 200-yard freestyle at 1:53.79, and will be joined by Mitton, who was second at 1:54.59, with Giada Santamello of Belleville Althoff Catholic third at 1:58.62. In the 200-yard Individual medley, Reilly Curry won to qualify for state at 2:11.74, with Rylee Niemetz of Freeburg in second at 2:21.02, and O’Fallon’s Kate Burk third at 2:23.06.
Four swimmers from the field in the 50-yard freestyle went through to state, with Albertyn the winner at 23.60 seconds, with Triad’s Kyla Calvin second at 24.15 seconds, third place going to Emma Herrin of Springfield at 24.20 seconds, and Deist was fourth, qualifying for state at 24,27 seconds. In the one-meter springboard diving competition, Kaiser qualified for state by winning with 456.65 points, while Marlow Burger of New Berlin was second with 375.80 points, Edwardsville’s Zoey Ludwig was third with 325.85 points, and Tess O’Brien of Springfield was fourth at 297.65 points. In the 100-yard butterfly, Herrin was the only state qualifier, winning the race at 57.26 seconds, with Ava Brown of O’Fallon second at 58.78 seconds, and Isabella Dai of Carbondale was third at 1:00.95.
Albertyn qualified in her second event, the 100-yard freestyle, with a winning time of 51.31 seconds, with Suhre joining her at state with a second-place time of 52.59 seconds, and Freeburg’s Jillian Hansen was third at 55.15 seconds. In the 500-yard freestyle, Mitton was the only qualifier for state, with a winning time of 5:08.14, while second place went to Calvin at 5:25.58, and in third place was Kathryn Berthe of Mascoutah at 5:26.06. In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the Tigers’ team of Laine Curry, Reilly Curry, Hong, and Deist won the race and qualified for state at 1:38.43, while O’Fallon was second at 1:43.92, and Springfield came in third at 1:44.60.
In the 100-yard backstroke, Laine Curry was the winner in a qualifying time of 56.24 seconds, with Deist second and going to state with a time of 57.83 seconds, and Dai also made it to state by finishing third with a time of 58.66 seconds. In the 100-yard breaststroke, Suhre was the only state qualifier, winning with a time of 1:05.65, with Mascoutah’s Summer Diehl second at 1:10.72, and her teammate Berthe third at 1:10.92. In the final race, the 400-yard freestyle relay, Edwardsville’s team of Reilly Curry, Mitton, Laine Curry, and Hong qualified for state, the only team to do so, at 3:37.34, with O’Fallon second at 3:44.59, and Springfield was third at 3:55.93.
The state qualifiers will compete at the IHSA meet next Friday and Saturday at FHC Natatorium in Westmont, in suburban Chicago. The preliminaries take place on Friday, with the finals, where state championship points will be on the line, on Saturday.
