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EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville's boys swimming team took a page from their girls swimming team counterparts Monday afternoon and held a fund-raising Swim for HOPE meet to raise funds for Allison's HOPE, a local charity named for Edwardsville Olympic-level swimmer Allison Cassens who died of colon cancer in 2004; the charity raises funds to go to cancer research and support of families who have members dealing with the disease.
The Tigers won the five-team event with 381 points, enough to edge out O'Fallon, who had 308; Chatham Glenwood took third with 304 points, followed by Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin with 217 and Springfield High with 178 on the day. Edwardsville won seven events on the day, which included events not usually held in a high school meet such as the 1,000-yard freestyle, 4x100 medley relay and 4x200 freestyle relay.
“They were definitely challenged today,” said Tiger coach Christian Rhoten, “but we had some decent swims; I think we learned a lot about how to respond to challenges like that. We won the 400 medley (relay) and 200 free (relay); those are going to be huge in the sectional (set for Feb. 17 in Springfield), who's going to win the relays and who's going to get the points.”
Logan Mills won a pair of events on the day, taking the points in the 100 breaststroke and 100 butterfly as well as being on the winning 4x100 medley relay team. “Logan had a really nice race,” Rhoten said. “He went 1:51 in his (medley relay) split and that was the best time for him and also went 59 (seconds) in the 100 fly.
“Matt Mendez had a nice 50 freestyle and was able to pull out the win tonight; they're coming along and it wasn't the best meet of the season by any means, but I think they learned something about themselves and how to compete, how to respond to challenges and we'll use that down the road.”
The meet was a good experience for a good cause, Rhoten felt. “We do this for the girls,” Rhoten said. “We're looking to grow it and make this an annual thing where we're able to bring in some of the best competition in the south-central part of the state and raise funds and give back to a good cause.
“It's good we can use swimming as platform to create something more than just swimming.”
Mills' win in the 100 butterfly came in 59.65 seconds and in the 100 breaststroke came in 1:09.74; Porter LaVasseur won the 100 backstroke in a time of 54.89 seconds, while other Tiger wins came in the 4x100 medley relay (LaVasseur, McLain Oertle, Noah May and Mills in 3:52.43; Mendez in the 50 freestyle (24.48 seconds); Oertle in the 200 breaststroke (2:37.97); and the 4x50 freestyle relay (Mathiew Doyle, Mendez, Oertle and Mills in 1:36.80).
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