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BELOW IS A PHOTO GALLERY FROM SWISA MEET:
There's been quite a few swimmers for Godfrey's Summers Port Swim Club that hasn't known what it's like to lose a Southwestern Illinois Swimming Association team championship.
Kind of like any Shark swimmers since 1992, the last time a team other than the Sharks came away with the title.
For the 23rd straight year, Summers Port came away with the SWISA league crown, amassing 2,354 points to defeat host Paddlers of Granite City going away, the Pirates finishing second with 1,746 points. Edwardsville's Water Works club took third with 1.744.5 points, Collinsville's Splash City was fourth at 1,364.5 points and Sunset Hills of Edwardsville took up the rear with 600 points.
The Sharks won both competitions on the day, the boys scoring 1,196 points to outdistance the Pirates, who had 940 points. The Marlins were third at 684, the Gators fourth at 587 and the Stingrays fifth at 458. Summers Port's girls also won going away, scoring 1,158 points to take first over Water Works, who had 1,060.5 points. Paddlers was third with 806, Splash City fourth with 777.5 and Sunset Hills fifth with 142.
The start of the meet was held up an hour by storms that passed through the Granite City area, but Sharks coach Nancy Miller felt the delay didn't cause much of a problem for her swimmers. “The kids handled it well,” Miller said. “You get ready for a meet and warm up and then when you have a delay, it throws a monkey wrench into your plans, but you just handle it as best as you can and go on.”
What really makes the championships special, in Miller's mind, is the work that goes into it. “We had three goals in mind for today,” Miller said. “We wanted to put 100 percent effort into everything we did, we wanted to have no disqualifications and we wanted all of our swimmers to show good sportsmanship. We did have a couple of DQs today, but when you go into a meet this big, that's going to happen. In general, we had a great day overall.
“We have a great group of older swimmers who have shown our younger swimmers what they need to do to get better. Swimming's not an easy sport; it can hurt. But the lessons all of them learn from hard training really pays off in the end.”
“I'm impressed with the day we had,” Water Works coach David Albers said. “From the beginning of the year, when we had a couple of meets called because of storms, to today, we showed a 100 percent improvement from where we started. What we did today was the culmination of the effort we've put in all year.”
Albers also congratulated Miller and the Sharks for their championship. “Nancy's one of the most respected coaches in the area,” Albers said. “She's accomplished a lot in her career and all of us really respect her for what she's achieved.
“We have a smaller team,” said Sunset Hills coach Drew May, “but we swam very well. We all worked hard today and really did very well.”
“We improved from the start,” added Stingrays assistant Jenny Diest. “We really improved our times and technique from the start of the year and though we weren't expecting to win, we really showed much improvement. We're all happy with how it went today.”
Several league records fell on the day, starting with the opening race, the boys 13-14 200 meter freestyle, where Summers Port's Caden Akal covered the distance in 2:17.95, lowering the 2009 mark of 2:27.81 by A.J. Neal. Other records on the day came in the boys 15-18 200 freestyle, where Matthew Daniel of Summers Port swam in 1:59.88 (the previous record was 2:03.47 from Doug Schrank in 2009); the girls 15-18 200 free, Victoria Brady of Splash City in 2:14.46 (2:15.35 by Mary Miller in 2007); the boys 11-12 100 free, Jake Roth of Summers Port in 1:04.37 (1:04.56 by Jake Gremaud in 2009); the girls 15-18 100 free, Bailey Grinter of Water Works, 59.98 seconds (1:01.59 by Madeline Monroe in 2011); the girls 13-14 100 backstroke, Sahar Rabiei of Water Works in 1:10.85 (1:13.44 by Annie Miller in 1999); the girls 15-18 100 backstroke, Grinter in 1:07 (1:11.57 by Hanna Nelson in 2011; Water Works' Elizabeth McPherson in 1:08.70 and Paddlers' Maia Cain in 1:10.25 also swam faster than Nelson's previous mark); the girls 13-14 50 free, Rabiei in 28.58 (28.85 in by Monroe in 2007); and the girls 15-18 50 free, Grinter in 27.63 (29.29 in 2007 by Andrea McPike; Brady, in 28.84, also swam faster than McPike's previous mark).
The day's leading scorers on the boys side were Evan Brewer of Paddlers (8-and-under), 45 points; Cohen Osborn of Water Works (9-10), 48 points; Roth (11-12), 48 points; Noah Clancy and Akal, both of Summers Port (13-14), 48 points each; and Matthew Daniel of Summers Port (15-18), 48 points.
Girls leading scorers on the day were Rachel Kretzer of Water Works (8-and-under), 48 points; Lydia Nugent, Splash City (9-10), 45 points; Anna Mohen of Summers Port (11-12), 48 points; Rabiei of Water Works (13-14), 48 points; and Grinter of Water Works (15-18), 48 points.
CLICK BELOW FOR FINAL WINNERS OF SWISA MEET:
http://www.riverbender.com/articles/details/swisa-championship-results-8157.cfm
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
