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BOYS SWIMMING AND DIVING
EDWARDSVILLE - Edwardsville got 10 wins out of 12 events as the Tigers won the Southern Illinois High School Boys Championship meet at EHS' Chuck Fruit Aquatic Center Thursday night.
The Tigers amassed 404 points to Granite City's 163, Belleville Althoff's 97, Highland's 73 and Triad's 31.
Edwardsville head swim coach Christian Rhoten said he thought his team did well in the meet without much break from training.
“We were not rested at all and I think all our swimmers came together as a team and brought a lot of energy and productivity,” Rhoten said. “A lot of people dropped time, almost unexpectedly from my point of view.”
Porter LaVasseur won the 100 freestyle in a time of 50.66 for the Tigers, then teamed up with Brian Baggette, Tyler Morris and Carter Todd to win in the 4x 50 free relay and Levasseur, Baggette, Morris and Graham Peterson won the 4 x 100 free relay. Other Tiger wins came in the 200-medley relay, Baggette in the 500 freestyle (4:52.49) and 100 backstroke (59.96); Peterson in the 200 free (1:59.82); Tyler Morris in the 50 free (22.51).
Baggette was alone in his race and still recorded a 4:52 and Morris continued to show his strength in the 50 free. Rhoten said Morris is capable of breaking the 22-second mark in the 50 free at the sectional and has a strong chance at qualifying for state. Edwardsville’s Alex Naeger won in diving, with a tight battle with teammate Luke Pranger. Naeger had 333.70 points while Pranger had 276.45 points. Each Edwardsville diver has shown improvement in each meet and given the Tigers another important dimension to the boys swim team.
“Alex and Luke both did 11 dives to prepare for the sectional,” Rhoten said. “Alex and Luke have both worked very hard this season and I look forward to them competing in sectional.”
Benjamin Thomae of Highland captured the 200-yard individual medley (2:03.86) and the 100-yard breaststroke (1:04.16). Thomae is a swimmer for the Edwardsville Breakers club team in the off high school season. Thomae's overall efforts were two of the best swims of the day. Edwardsville freshman Noah May posted a strong third-place finish in the 200 IM and appears ready for the sectional meet.
The Tigers will host the IHSA Sectional meet at Chuck Fruit on Feb. 20, with the state meet set for the following weekend in Evanston.
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