Evan Grinter Stars, Wins Twice, As Tigers Are Second In Region Four Boys Swim Meet, Redbirds Fourth, Warriors Fifth

EDWARDSVILLE - Edwardsville swimmer Evan Grinter was the Tigers' only double winner, taking the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events, and was on the only Tiger relay team to win as Chatham Glenwood edged the Tigers to win the Region Four boys swimming meet Saturday afternoon at the Chuck Fruit Aquatic Center.

The Titans won the meet with 295 points, with the Tigers coming in a very close second with 292 points, O'Fallon was third with 225 points, Alton came in fourth with 111 points, followed by fifth place Granite City, with 75 points. Belleville Althoff Catholic was sixth with 33 points, Marquette Catholic came in seventh with 23 points, and Collinsville was eighth with 15 points.

Things started well for Edwardsville with a first place finish in the 200-yard medley relay, as the team of Logan Oertle, Cohen Osborn, Owen Gruben and Grinter won with a time of 1:41.25, with Granite's team of Alex Weaver, Maddox Kennedy, Wyatt Loftus and Christopher Taylor coming in fourth at 1:38.74. Lleyton Turk won his first race of the afternoon by taking the 200-yard freestyle at 1:53.85, while Oertle came in second at 1:58.10, Luke DeConcini was third with a time of 1:59.57, and Alton's Luke Norton was sixth, with a time of 2:06.53. Glenwood's Will Turk won the 200-yard individual medley coming in at 1:54.18, with Osborn second at 2:01.18, Edwardsville's Daniel Sanchez was fourth at 2:16.73. and Alton's Lucas Frye was ninth with a time of 2:24.54.

Edwardsville finished one-two in the 50-yard freestyle, with Gruber winning his first event of the day, coming in at 21.87 seconds, with Gruben coming in second at 23.09 seconds. The Explorers' Jake Roth was fourth at 23.41 seconds, Kennedy was seventh at 25.56 seconds and Austin Norton of the Redbirds came in eighth at 25.68 seconds. Weaver was 14th at 26.99 seconds and Alton's Aidan Kwos was 19th with a time of 29.28 seconds. Levi Vorreyer of Glenwood one the one meter springboard diving event with a score of 472.85 points, with the Tigers' Hunter Schlueter placing fourth with a score of 278,75 points. Andrew Sanner of the Titans then won the 100-yard butterfly, coming in at 55.82 seconds, with Gruben second at 56.81 seconds, Norton sixth at 1:01.57, Redbird teammate Christian Kotzamanis seventh at 1:03.94, Edwardsville's Max Brandmeyer eighth with at rime of 1:05.99 and Loftus came in 10th at 1:15.56.

Grinter won his second event of the day in the 100-yard freestyle, coming in at 49.57 seconds, with DeConcini placing third at 54.37 seconds, Taylor was 20th at 1:09.39, Brady Smallie of the Warriors was 21st with a time of 1:10.04 and Kwos was 22nd, with a time of 1:12.71. Lleyton Turk won his second event in the 500-yard freestyle, with a time of 5:12.97, with Edwardsville's Trent Sholl third at 5:58.96, teammate Jacob Grandone was fourth at 6:01.53, and Alton's Victor Humphrey was eighth, with a time of 6:36.48, The O'Fallon team of Camden Kimmel, Brady Gotter, Taylor Lehman and Ethan Stein won the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:37.86, with the Tigers; team of Sanchez, Nathan Smith, Adams and DeConcini second at 1:40.70, Alton's team of Luke Norton, Frye, Kotzamanis and Austin Norton were fourth at 1:42.17, and the Granite team of Smallie, Cade Bobbitt, Kyle Hillier and Loftus finished seventh with a time of 2:07.98.

Osborn won the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 52,78 seconds, with Oertle coming in third at 58.98, Frye was fifth at 1:04.92, Kotzamanis was ninth with a time of 1:08,76 and Weaver came in 13th, with a time of 1:13.73. Will Turk won his second event for the Titans by taking the 100-yard breaststroke, coming in at 58.86 seconds, while Roth was third at 1:07.90, Adams placed fifth at 1:09.81, Kennedy was seventh at 1:12.50, Austin Norton was 13th at 1:18:57 and Humphrey was 15th at 1:21.74. In the meet's final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay, Glenwood's Nate Reed, Lleyton Turk, Andrew Sanner and Will Turk won he race to clinch the meet, coming in at 3:22.07, with Edwardsville's Gruben, Oertle, Osborn and Grinter second at 3:22,19 and Alton's team of Frye, Luck Norton, Kotzamanis and Austin Norton were fourth at 3:56.00.

The meet served as a climax to the boys swimming season in the area.

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

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