Edwardsville's boys swim team romped to a win over Chatham Glenwood, Springfield High School and O'Fallon with 155 points on Saturday. (Photos by Dan Brannan)EDWARDSVILLE - Cohen Osborn won two events on the day and the 200-yard freestyle relay teams finished one-two in their race to help the Edwardsville boys swimming team win a quadrangular meet Saturday afternoon at the Chuck Fruit Aquatic Center.

The Tigers won the meet with 198 points, with Chatham Glenwood coming in second with 155 points, Springfield High was third with 101 and O'Fallon finished fourth with 90 points.

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Edwardsville was ready to swim fast in the meet, and their efforts were rewarded with the win.

"Really well," said Tigers head coach Christian Rhoten. "The guys should have been a lot more tired than they are, because we've been training really hard. But they really wanted to swim fast today, so that's what they did."

Osborn's winning time of 52.20 seconds in the 100-yard backstroke was typical of the Tigers' times on the day, with Evan Grinter also swam very good races as well. The team overall swam well on the day and was particularly looking forward to going against the Titans.

"Yeah, I think everyone was pretty fired up to race against Glenwood," Rhoten said. "We've had a few years when Glenwood was really close to us at sectionals in points. So, they definitely wanted to come in today and put up some good swims again."

Outside of Grinter and Osborn, some of the younger swimmers on the Tigers had good performances as well.

"Austin Norcio had a great 200 freestyle, lifetime best time with a 1;52.96," Rhoten said. Eddie Myers in the 100 backstroke and a lifetime best time. I mean, I could keep going and going about guys who just lit the pool on fire today."

The younger swimmers have made major contributions to the Tigers' success this season as well.

"They're being led pretty well," Rhoten said, "They know what's expected at a swim meet like this and when you have good leadership, knowing that a dual meet is going to go time, they're responding well."

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The 200-yard medley relay team of Myers, Osborn, Owen Gruben and Grinter got things started with a win in the race at 1:42.14, with the team of Alex Ge, Daniel Sanchez, Javier DeLaCruz and Peyton LeVasseur placing fifth at 1:55.50. Glenwood's Lleyton Turk won the 200-yard freestyle at 1:51.64, with Norcio coming in second with his lifetime best and Logan Oertle placing third at 1:59.17. Glenwood's Will Turk won the 200-yard individual medley, coming in at 2:02.17, with Myers coming in second at 2:12.04 and Sanchez placing sixth at 2:21.33.

Grinter won the 50-yard freestyle at 22.63 seconds, with Gruben coming in third at 23.89 seconds. Charlie Batton of Glenwood won the one-meter springboard diving competition with 215.45 points, while the Tigers' Hunter Schlueter was second with 179.90 points and Sam Borden fourth with 139.60 points. Osborn won his first event of the day by taking the 100-yard butterfly at 55.84 seconds, with Gruben second at 57.58 seconds. Joshua Morgan of the Senators won Springfield's only event in the 100-yard freestyle at 50.06 seconds, with Grinter placing third at 52.87 seconds and Oertle fourth at 54.12 seconds.

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Norcio won the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:21.60, while Danford Mason was third at 5:52.07, while the 200-yard freestyle relay teams came in the top two, with Grinter, Gruben, Myers and Osborn winning at 1:30.96 and the team of DeLaCruz, Oertle, Luke DeConcini and Norcio second at 1:37.56. Osborn won his second event of the day with his blazing 100-yard backstroke time of 52.20 seconds, while Myers came in second at 57.32 seconds.

In the final events of the day, Will Turk won the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:00.32, with Sanchez third at 1:08.86 and DeLaCruz in fifth at 1:11.77. In the 400-yard freestyle relay, the Titans' team of Lleyton Turk, Lucas Sullens, Andrew Sanner and Will Turk won the event with a time of 3:33.50, with the Edwardsville team of Oertle, DeConcini, Sanchez and Norcio second at 3:40.64 and the team of Ge, Mason, Jacob Grandone and Gabe Csaszar coming in fifth at 3:53.94.

The Tigers continue to work and build momentum for the IHSA sectional meet, which they'll host on Feb. 19. Rhoten is looking ahead to the sectional meet.

"Yeah, absolutely," Rhoten said. "We love to host and obviously, we have goals of winning the meet every year. So it'll be another tough one this year."

For the rest of the season going into the sectionals, Rhoten is hopeful that the swimmers keep improving on their times going into the state series.

"Hopefully, either holding the same times or going faster," Rhoten said, "and cleaning up some technique stuff, maybe switching up some relays. But I think we're in a pretty good spot."Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

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Jan 23, 2024 - Osborn Wins Three Events, Tigers Win Six, O'Fallon Captures Swim For Hope Meet, Edwardsville Finishes Third

Feb 18, 2024 - Edwardsville Sends Three Relays To State Meet, Osborn, Myers Advance In Two Events, Tigers Win Another Sectional

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