EDWARDSVILLE – For Edwardsville senior swimmer Evan Williams, it was a very good start to his and the Tigers’ boys swimming season on Thursday.
“We did pretty well tonight,” Williams said in an interview following the Tigers’ season-opening 115-61 win over O’Fallon in a dual meet at the Chuck Fruit Aquatic Center. “We got the best times of for a long time for this team, and it’s starting out pretty good, and I think we’re going to get some of the best times in a long time for a lot of the swimmers here, and maybe I’ll get a pretty good time as well.”
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Williams competed in the 100-yard breaststroke and tried a new technique that may prove beneficial to him as the season goes along.
“I did pretty well,” Williams said. “My 100 breaststroke, I did a different technique, and I saw it out to make it the best. My time maybe didn’t change as much, but it looked a lot better than how I usually do.”
Williams has been a member of both the Tiger football and swimming teams for all four years of high school, and being a part of both teams have allowed him to make friends and be a part of a very good team.
“It’s really changed me ever since I was like, you know,” Williams said. “When I came here when I moved from Alton, it was a big change for me, especially because I didn’t have a lot of friends, and I lost a lot of friends when I moved away. So, it was nice to be on that team coming into middle school and going to high school and meeting new people and having formed distances and close relationships with a lot of new people. And I’m still friends with a lot of people that I met in sixth grade and seventh grade to this day.”
As for personal and team goals for the new season, Williams has some ambitious yet simple goals.
“I’m hoping we go to sectionals and we win,” Williams said, “and for most people to win the state, and I’m hoping that a lot more people who don’t normally get to go and do those major events get to go, and get to shine the team in a different way that hasn’t been shined before.”
But all journeys must begin with a first step, and Thursday’s first step was a successful one, indeed.
“it was,” Williams said. “it was a really good start, and I can’t wait to see how we do as a team, and how far we get as a team.”
And Williams also remembered to mention his teammates for their jobs well done.
“I’d like to say that a lot of us did pretty good tonight,” Williams said. “I’d like to give a shoutout to Porter LeVasseur and how he did on some of his races, and especially Noah (May) on the 100 (butterfly), because that’s a pretty hard race, and I’ve got to give it to him because for being really, really good at it.”
