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EDWARDSVILLE - The Edwardsville boys swimming team, winning 10 of the 12 events and led by their seniors, got the new season off on the right foot with a 121-62 win over O'Fallon in a dual meet Thursday evening at the Chuck Fruit Aquatic Center.
The Tigers were led by three of their seniors, Logan Mills, McLane Oertle, and Matt Doyle, as well as junior diver Owen Kaufmann. All four were state qualifiers last year, and are expected to do well again as the season progresses.
Edwardsville boys swim coach Christian Rhoten said it was a fun meet against conference rival O'Fallon on Thursday night.
"The guys were engaged and into the meet which made everyone compete pretty well," Rhoten said. "We are looking forward to a stretch of solid training before our next meet against Routt Catholic on Dec. 27."
Doyle and Mills were double winners on the day, with Doyle taking the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:54.65 and the 100-yard backstroke at 57.13 seconds. Mills won the 50-yard freestyle at 22.89 seconds, and also came home in the 100-yard butterfly at 58.59 seconds. Oertle's only win came in the 100-yard backstroke, the time being 1:01.02.
In addition, Kaufmann won the diving competition with a score of 222.35 points, junior Canon Adams won the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:19.51, and sophomore Evan Grinter was the winner in the 100-yard freestyle, his time being 52.95 seconds.
The relay team of Doyle, Oertle, Mills and Grinter won the two relay races on the day, first taking the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:42.93, and the 400-yard freestyle relay, coming in at 1:34.99.
The Panthers won only two events on the day, with Aiden Thornburg winning the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:30.82, and the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Thornburg, Nick Oulvey, Jack Peterson and Ethan Stein winning the race with the time being 3:42.91.
The Tigers are now off until a dual meet at Jacksonville Routt Catholic on Dec. 27, then swim in the Normal Community High School Iron Invitational Jan 11.Colin Feeney also contributed to this story.
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Colin Feeney also contributed to this story
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