EDWARDSVILLE – Both coaches for Summersport and WaterWorks found things to be pleased about as the Sharks and Marlins opened their Southwestern Illinois Swimming Association season Thursday night at WaterWorks' pool; Summersport scored a 388-311 overall win over the Marlins, with the Shark boys taking a 236-116 win and the Marlin girls scoring a 193-152 victory.

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“I was very pleased with our performances,” said Summersport coach Nancy Miller. “We have a lot of brand-new swimmers who have learned a tremendous amount in just a week's time and they got to show their parents tonight what they've learned; it was a very exciting experience for all of them, plus my old swimmers who have been with me for a long time performed to what I expected – we had a great meet.

“WaterWorks has a lot of quality swimmers.”

While Miller was happy with the opening-night performances, she realizes there's still much work to do before the July 23 SWISA Championship at Paddlers in Granite City, where the Sharks are the 24-time defending champion. “We've got a lot yet to learn and a lot of training to do – we've got five weeks to do it and we will do it. Summer club swimming is all about 'hurry up, hurry up, teach it, learn it'; I'm amazed at how the children grasp what we teach them”

“Everyone did a lot better than I expected,” said Marlin coach Elizabeth McPherson. “Now we know how we perform in meets and I know the new kids are performing way better, like in practice. This was the top team in our league and that we didn't lose by much really shows how SWISA's going to go, especially a lot of our really good older kids weren't here tonight (on vacations or at swim camps).

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“Everyone did really well; there was a lot of motivation to win.”

Triple winners on the night for Summersport included Jake Roth, Anna Mohen, Eleanor Schuler, Luke Daniel, Claire Pohlman, Stephen Stubbs and Noah Clancy; double winners were Victor Humphrey and Ginny Schrank, while Jack Rea, Cole Akal, Kaelin Page, Jack Lombardi, Claire Paule, Max Gorsuch and Lucy Rose had wins for the Sharks on the night.

Marlin triple winners included Cohen Osborn, Matthew Lueking, Karis Chen and Karissa Osborn; double winners were Maria Beltramea, Kyla Calvin, Alan Chen and Ava Whittaker. Other Marlin winners on the night were Kylie Schumacher, Savannah Grinter, Alyssa Grant, Autumn Grinter, Hunter Schluter, Olivia Ramirez, Trent Scholl, Matthiew Doyle, Evan Grinter and Allison Naylor.

WaterWorks will host the SWISA Novice Championship at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, then take on Collinsville's Splash City at WaterWorks at 6 p.m. June 22 as the visiting team; Splash City does not have the facilities to host meets. Summersport hosts Sunset Hills at 5:30 p.m. June 22.

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