WESTMONT – The Edwardsville Tigers swim team is returning home with a lot of hardware.
EHS won state medals with four of eight entries and finished in 18th place.th The team participated in the IHSA State Swim Meet on Friday and Saturday at the FMC Natatorium.
18th-It was EHS’ best finish as they finished 13th.th In 2016.
The Tigers had state medals from freshman Riley Currie, sophomores Grace Ortle, Scout Jackson and Georgia Samet, and junior Karis Chen.
Due to new rule changes that went into effect this season, swimmers who made it to Saturday’s finals placed in the top 16 to earn medals. Previously, medals were awarded to the top 12 places.
The top 16 in each event from Friday’s qualifying rounds advanced to Saturday’s finals. The top eight runners in each event from the preliminaries advanced to Saturday’s A final, and the next eight advanced to the B final.
Personally, Curry finished with 15.th– Recorded a time of 2:07.70 in the 200 yard individual medley B final.she was 13 years oldth in Friday’s qualifying round.
Ertl took 14th In the 50 yard freestyle B final, it was 23.80 seconds. She advanced to Saturday’s final by 0.03 seconds after qualifying on Friday. Ms. Ertl’s state medal was awarded a year after she won the medal in her 16th year.th Last season before the state medal rules changed.
At EHS, two relay teams won state medals.
The 200-yard medley relay team of Jackson, Chen, Curry, and Ortle finished in ninth place, the top of the B final, with a time of 1 minute, 46.45 seconds. The group also placed 9th in the preliminary round.
Curry, Oortle and Jackson combined with Samet for 13 points.th He won the 200-yard freestyle relay B final with a time of 1 minute, 36.58 seconds.they were 11 years oldth During qualifying.
Individual representatives from EHS included Jackson, Chen, and McLaren Seaton.
Jackson placed 24th in the 100-yard butterfly, 19th in the 100-yard backstroke, and Chen placed 22nd in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Seaton was 48th in diving. She was her first diver to represent EHS at the state swim meet since Taylor Schielheimer in 2017. Seelheimer qualified for the state tournament from 2014 to 2017.
With state medals in four events, this is the Tigers’ most successful state swimming meet in program history.
EHS’ last medalist was Josie Bushell in 2019, who placed 12th in the 100-yard freestyle.
The last time the Tigers had multiple state medalists in the same state swim meet was in 2015 with Bailey Grinter and Katherine May.
Grinter placed third in the 50-yard freestyle, fourth in the 100-yard backstroke, and May placed fifth in the 100-yard butterfly.
Prior to this state swim meet, there had only been two relay races in program history in which the Tigers had won a state medal.
The 200-yard medley relay team of Caroline Caton, Jennifer Dyst, Katherine Kuhl, and Kate May finished 12th in 2012. In 2014, the 200-yard freestyle relay team of Grinter, Katherine May, Sahar Rabiei and Jane Russo won the championship. 8th.
The state swim meet caps off a season for the Tigers, who went undefeated during the regular season and won every meet. EHS also achieved 10th placeth Won consecutive division titles.