Gators Capture SWISA Relays Girls Crown, Other Area Teams Also Post Solid Efforts

EDWARDSVILLE - The Collinsville Swim Club Gators swept all three titles in the Southwest Illinois Swimming Association relays meet Monday evening at the Sunset Hills Country Club pool, taking the boys, girls, and overall championships.

In the girls meet, the Gators edged out Montclaire Swim Club of Edwardsville 117-106 for first place, with Summers Port Swim Club of Godfrey third at 94 points, the host Sunset Hills CC came in fourth with 90 points, and Paddlers Swim Club of Granite City came up fifth at 82 points.

In the overall standings, Collinsville won with 228 points, with the Sharks coming in second with 198 points, the Marlins came in third at 163, the Pirates finished fourth at 154 points, and the host Stingrays were fifth at 121 points.

Optimism abounds for the 2024 summer season at Summers Port, where the Sharks are a traditional SWISA power, and good things are also expected from the swimmers.

"It's been a good meet so far," said Summers Port head coach Maddie Monroe in an interview on Monday evening. "We've got a lot of close races, so, we've got a couple of kids swimming up in relays for age groups. So, I'd like to get our hand on the wall first in every race, and we've done that a couple of times, so that's good."

The Sharks had their bye week in the competition first, which sent things a bit off-center for the club, but Monroe feels that her swimmers adjusted very well to the circumstances, and have overall swam well.

"It was a little weird this year," Monroe said, "because we had our bye week the first week. So. we've only had one meet, and so, it's a little bit of an adjustment getting everybody going. But we're excited for a double meet this week, so hopefully, we'll build on however we do tonight for Thursday night against (Collinsville) Gators."

It's been a good start to the season for the SWISA teams, and at Paddlers, first-year coach Macie Sparks is very happy to see how her Pirates team has responded to the start.

"I'm feeling good," Sparks said in an interview conducted at the start of the meet. "I'm super proud of how all of our swimmers are doing, and so far this year, I think we've made great improvements in just our first meet. I'm super proud of how all the kids are doing."

The relays meet, as are all of the SWISA meets, meant to be fun meets, but there's also a certain amount of competitiveness involved in that the swimmers want to do well and get good results.

In the results for the eight-and-under division, the 100-yard medley relay was won by Montclaire's team of Lennox Moszer, Amelia Shaffer, Meredith Luitjohan, and Caroline Newman at 1:48.85, with the 75-yard freestyle relay going to Summers Port's Emmy Beiser, Mary Fitzgerald, and Cora Slater at 1:12.71. The Marlins' team of Luitjohan, Moszer, and Shaffer took the 75-yard breaststroke relay at 1:30.33, while the 75-yard backstroke relay went to Quinn Harman, Sarah Drainer, and Annie Minton of the Sharks at 1:29.15. The 75-yard butterfly relay was won by Beiser, Drainer, and Slater of Summers Port at 1:40.81.

In the nine-and-10 age group, the 200-yard medley relay was won by Collinsville's team of Macy Copeland, Julia Berger, Ellie Forman, and Josie Forman at 2:39.68, while the 150-yard freestyle relay was won by Huddy Jaklevic, Emily Goin, and June Lorts of the Marlins, coming in at 2:02.76. The 150-yard breaststroke relay was won by Elyse Kershaw, Annalynne Cross, and Josie Forman of Collinsville, with a time of 2:32.39, with the 150-yard backstroke relay won by Emily Landwehr, Lauren Landwehr, and Elliot Stolle of the Gators at 2:24.38, after which Josie Forman, Berger, and Ellie Forman won the 150-yard butterfly relay at 2:01.35.

In the 11-and-12 races, the 200-yard medley relay was won by Josie Albert, Lydia Fernandez, Alexandria Suhre, and Madalyn Loehr of Paddlers at 2:36.11, while the 150-yard freestyle relay was taken by Magdalena Luitjohan, Teagan Moszier, and Violet Shaffer of the Marlins at 1:42.39. The Stingrays team of Caroline Walton, Molly Hunter, and Nora Walton won the 150-yard breaststroke race at 2:19.64, while the 150-yard backstroke relay race was won by Brynna Hite, Hunter, and Walton at 2:18.13, and the 150-yard butterfly relay was taken by Jacqueline Vorce, Albert, and Suhre of the Pirates at 1:59.7.

In the results of the 13-and-14 age group, the 200-yard medley relay was won by the Marlins' Lydia Cloud, Morgan Popelar, Morgan Mitton, and Kyla Calvert at 2:15.29, with the 150-yard freestyle relay going to Sunset Hills' Elana Munch, Addison Gunn, and Greta Deist at 1:32.01. In the 150-yard breaststroke relay, the winners were Lola Bronnbauer, Hazel Kamp, and Claire Berger of Collinsville at 2:10.66, with the 150-yard backstroke relay was won by Calvin, Morgan Popelar, and Cloud of the Marlins at 1:46.29, and the 150-yard butterfly relay was won by Edyn Cohn, Deist, and Gunn of the Stingrays at 1:33.77.

In the 15-to-18 division, the 200-yard medley relay was won by Gators, who saw Sophie Van Middendorp, Emily Kober, Kylee Strong-Chasteen, and Lilly Rawson, who had a time of 2:13.28, while in the 150-yard freestyle relay, Launa Schwank, Ella Valyo, and Mackenzie Ingram of Summers Port won with a time of 1:41.68. The 150-yard breaststroke relay was won by Karis Chen, Anna Feco, and Madison Popelar of Montclaire at 1:53.85, while the 150-yard backstroke relay was won by Feco, Madison Popelar, and Mitton of the Marlins at 1:44.26, and the 150-yard butterfly relay was taken by Chen, Riley Edmondson, and Mitton of Montclaire, coming in at 1:41.91. In the final race of the day, the 250-yard freestyle relay crescendo, the team of Ellie Forman, Brielle Wilson, Berger, and Strong-Chasteen of Collinsville won at 2:35.80.

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

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Dan Brannan also contributed to this story

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