Highland Splash to host huge Midwest Swim Conference meet on Saturday
The Highland Community Pool will be the place to be all day on Saturday for area swimming enthusiasts who would like to watch the top-tier local swimmers as well as the best of the best from all over the Metro East compete.
The Highland Splash summer swim team is hosting the Midwest Swim Conference meet for the first time in a decade. Warm-up for the meet begins at 7 a.m. with competition set to start at 8 a.m. and run at least until 5 p.m.
“If people want to watch great swimming competition, the Highland Community Pool will be the place because there will be swimmers from ages 6 and 7 all the way up to 18 years old competing at the highest level,” said Highland Splash board member Mike McGinley, who is also serving as the 2015 president of the Midwest Swim Conference committee. “Each team is only allowed to bring a select amount of swimmers so this will be the best of the best from around the entire Metro East. Everybody is fast and a lot of the kids who will be competing at this meet are not only summer swimmers, but they also swim in the winter (for their respective YMCA teams, etc.).”
After the 10 conference teams battle head to head in dual meets throughout the regular season, the summer season culminates with the Midwest Swim Conference meet, which originally was designed to alternate between the various teams each year. So, each of the 10 teams gets a chance to host the conference meet. However, the majority of the teams in the Midwest Swim Conference don’t have the facilities or room to host such a big event. So, they typically defer to the O’Fallon Breakers because the O’Fallon Memorial Pool is located in Community Park and has the necessary grounds to be able to handle the crowds. Furthermore, it is geographically close to most of the other teams.
With the exception of the Highland Splash and the Trenton Tornadoes, the remaining eight conference teams are located in St. Clair County, with most of of them stationed in Belleville.
“Most of the St. Clair County teams just don’t have the facility to host this big of an event because you need a fairground like we have here or like O’Fallon with their park,” McGinley said. “We have a great facility for this type of event. We’ve got the fairgrounds and the Four Diamonds to be able to handle this type of large event.”
McGinley said the Four Diamonds will serve for parking, as it does for the annual Madison County Fair.
He said he would be remiss if he did not give kudos to the local organiztion Sharpshooters because they allow the Highland Splash to use their facility In addition, the Sharpshooters, are also donating the grandstand from the fairground’s hog barn to be used for the conference meet for the spectators’ convenience.
Each team can send a maximum of 80 kids to the conference meet. The Splash is sending about 75 swimmers while some teams will field as few as 30-40 kids.
McGinley said the average number of swimmers for all of the 10 teams will send is about 50 and combining that total with an average of at least two parents or family members, gives a conservative estimation of at least 1,000 people at Highland Community Pool on Saturday.
McGinley said an event of this magnitude is not only a way to show off the amenities of the Highland Community Pool and the surrounding grounds, but also some of the city’s local flavor.
Local vendors who will be on site serving up food and beverages are Starbucks Coffee from Michael’s Coffee Shop, Charlie Dave’s BBQ, the Optimist Club with their brand of pizzas and the Lions Club with burgers and bratwursts.
“I have been telling the vendors that there will most likely be 1,000 to 1,500 people who will come out for this all-day event, and we want to make sure our local vendors are supported and that the people who come out to the event are accommodated,” he said. “There will be people from all over the Metro East so this is a great way to showcase Highland to the entire Metro East.”
And of course, the Highland Splash would like to claim its first conference crown. The Splash are coached by Alex Rinderer, Ryan Poss and Joel Mason,
“Our coaches have taken a good team and made it great,” said McGinley, who has two sons currently on the squad. “Last year, we took second behind only O’Fallon. “We usually have about 100 swimmers. But in two years, we’ve grown it to 140 swimmers. The Highland Splash has been in existence for roughly 30 years and we have never won the conference, but we really have a good and legitimate shot at winning the conference this time. I swam in the Splash from the time I was 6 years old all the way until I was 18 and it would be so exciting to finally win the conference.”
In addition to the Highland Splash, the O’Fallon Breakers and Clinton County’s Trenton Torpedoes, the Midwest Swim Conference also features the Dorchester Dolphins, Dupo Hilltoppers, Freeburg Waves, Kings Point Stingrays, St. Clair Country Club, Scott Air Force Base Sharks and Westhaven Waves.
This story was originally published July 10, 2015 at 12:10 PM with the headline "Highland Splash to host huge Midwest Swim Conference meet on Saturday."