EDWARDSVILLE - It was a very good day in the pool for the Edwardsville High boys swimming team, as senior Cohen Osborn won two events to qualify for the state meet, along with Eddie Myers, who beat the state qualifying times in his two events, Hunter Schlueter went through in diving, and all three relay teams won their events to qualify for state as the Tigers won their sixth straight championship in the IHSA sectional meet, held Saturday afternoon at the Chuck Fruit Aquatic Center.
Edwardsville won the team championship with 258 points, while O'Fallon was second with 205.5 points, Chatham Glenwood was third with 120 points, in fourth place was Jacksonville, who had 109 points, and fifth place went to Jacksonville Routt Catholic with 59 points.
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The winners in each event advanced to the state meet, along with swimmers who either broke or met the state's qualifying time standard. In once case, three swimmers advanced to state, with all three beating the qualifying time.
The Tigers got off to a grand start with the team of Osborn, Ridge Batchelor, Eddie Myers, and Austin Norcio winning the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:37.08, while Collinsville's team of Luke Berger, Brody Bronnbauer, Brad Lentz, and Damien Copeland placed seventh at 1:59.23. Jamesyn Samples of Thompsonville won the 200-yard freestyle at 1:42.95, while Eddie Myers came in second, but beat the qualifying time with a 1:44.06. The Tigers' Andrew Knef was seventh at 1:59.01, Alton's Erick Humphrey was eighth at 1:59.36, and teammate John Prior had a time of 2:50.40. Maddax Thompson of Elkville Elverado won the 200-yard individual medley at 1:54.65, beating the state qualifying time, while Thomas Miller of Triad was third at 2:07.54, the Tigers' Andre Myers came in fourth at 2:13.87, Batchelor was fifth at 2:15.91, and Conor Jones of Metro-East Lutheran was ninth at 2:49.08.
Three swimmers made it through to state in the 50-yard freestyle, with Willem Huggins of Carbondale winning at 20.78 seconds, Rocco Overton of Mascoutah placed second at 21.45 seconds, and Xavier Try of Glenwood came in third at 21.71 seconds, all three beating the state qualifying time. Edwardsville's Alex Ge was eighth at 23.15 seconds, teammate Peyton LeVasseur had a time of 24.19 seconds, Rodrigo Fuertes of Metro-East was in at 26.52 seconds, Bronnbauer and Alton's Michael Anderson both had a time of 27.43 seconds, Lentz's time was 27.64 seconds, Triad's Tyler Brokering came in at 27.69 seconds, and William Taylor of Granite City was home at 28.21 seconds.
Schlueter won the one-meter springboard diving event and qualified for state with a score of 366.30 points, while Osborn won the 100-yard butterfly at 50.25 seconds, while Samples was second at 50.93 seconds, and Eddie Myers finished third at 51.59, all three breaking the state qualifying time, with Lentz coming in at 1:06.43. Huggins won the 100-yard freestyle in a state qualifying time of 45.52 seconds, while Berger finished fourth at 49.15 seconds, Ge was seventh at 51.50 seconds. Knef was eighth at 53.12 seconds, Nathan Kotzamanis of the Redbirds was ninth at 53.15 seconds, Brooks was in at 54.37 seconds, Kober had a time of 57.67 seconds, Evan Kershaw of Piasa Southwestern was home at 1:00.22, Fuertes was right behind at 1:01.46, Bronnbauer's time was 1:02.89, and Mason Whitehead of Triad came in at 1:06.47.
James Springvloed of Marion won the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:54.11, while Norcio came in third at 5:01.66, Miller was fourth at 5:03.13, Humphrey was seventh at 5:24.90, and Edwardsville's Danford Mason was eighth at 5:31.25. The Tigers' team of Osborn, Andre Myers, Eddie Myers, and Norcio won the 200-yard freestyle relay at 1:27.58, while Alton's team of Kotzamanis, Aiden Kwas, Anderson, and Humphrey placed sixth at 1:43.62, Triad's team of Brooks, Brokering, Whitehead, and Miller finished seventh at 1:48.53, and Collinsville's team of Lentz, Copeland, Kayden Lutz, and Bronnbauer were eighth at 1:52.69. Osborn won his second event of the day in the 100-yard backstroke, coming in at a state qualifying time of 49.91 seconds, with Andre Myers third at 56.27 seconds, Brooks came in seventh at 58.90 seconds, Copeland was in at 1:23.92, and Brokering had a time of 1:25.14.
Thompson won his second event of the day in the 100-yard breaststroke, coming in at a state qualifying time of 56.70 seconds, with Berger placing third at 1:03.59, Batchelor was sixth at 1:06.42, Edwardsville's Daniel Wang was ninth, with a time of 1:09.67, Kershaw came in at 1:23.08, Whitehead was right behind at 1:23.09, Kwas' time was 1:24.63, Jones was home at 1:25.14, Dylan Sanchez of Granite had a time of 1:26.48, Taylor was right behind at 1:29.33, Lutz had a time of 1:33.22, and Prior was in at 1:34.56. In the final event of the day, the 400-yard freestyle relay, Edwardsville's Andre Myers, Ge, Knef, and Norcio won the race at 3:23.19 to qualify for state.
In events for athletes with disabilities, Kauvante Liewel of Illinois School For The Visually Impaired in Jacksonville won the 50-yard freestyle, having a time of 38.63 seconds, with Colin Kuhn of Illinois School For The Deaf, also in Jacksonville, coming in second at 1:31.96, and Brandon Davis of ISVI placed third at 1:36.44. In the 100-yard freestyle. Liewel won the event with a time of 1:42.58, while Kuhn was second at 3:08.52. All swimmers in both events qualified for the state meet.
The qualifiers will compete in the IHSA state meet next weekend, Feb.23-24, at the FMC Natatorium in Westmont, in suburban Chicago. The preliminaries in all events will take place on Friday, with the finals set for Saturday.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
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