Breakers continue to make waves
The O’Fallon Breakers swim team rolled to big wins over both Dupo and Scott to extend their season record to 5-1. That record – with the only loss being a close 22-point nail-biter to conference favorite Highland – reaffirms the team as a major contender for the 10-team Midwest Conference Championship in three weeks.
“We’ve really had a number of swimmers step up their game a bit over the past two weeks. I don’t think we’re there yet, but the kids continue to work hard and that usually leads to positive results,” Breakers Coach Kirsty Stooke said.
“The next two weeks will be even more indicative of how we’re tracking. We’ve posted some great team wins thus far but the upcoming St. Clair meet (July 12), in particular, will be a great measure of where we are leading up to the Conference Championship.”
Against Dupo, the Breakers came out of the gate by winning all four Medley Relays and then went on to win 45 of 52 individual events – before closing out the meet by winning nine of 10 Freestyle relays. That effort led to a convincing 421 – 99 win on the night.
Six Breakers won all three of their individual events and were integral cogs in relay wins as well. Natalie Edwards captured the 100 free, 100 IM and 50 fly in 15-18 girls – while Ashton Hessel grabbed the 100 IM, 100 back, and 50 fly in 13-14 girls. In the 8-under age group, Samantha Stooke won the 25 breast, 25 back and 25 fly on the girls side as Noah Hughes achieved the same event sweep on the boys side. And finally, Will Richards won the 50 breast, 50 fly and 50 back in 11-12 boys while Alex Hatten earned the 9-10 boys sweep in the 25 breast, 100 IM, and 25 back.
But there were plenty of other great efforts as well.
Double-event winners were Will Thoman (25 free/25 back), Julia Scherrer (25 free/25 breast), Jake Howey (100 free/50 fly), Shelby Bushong (50 breast/50 fly), Olivia Mussatto (100 IM/50 back), and Ella Peterson (25 back/25 fly). Single event winners were Samantha Valentine (25 free), Luke Wagner (25 free), Camden Kimmel (25 free),
Noah Tinge (50 free), Kylie Clark (100 free), Brian Hobbs (100 breast), Caitlin Lloyd (100 back), Michael Meyer (100 back), Patrick Murphy (100 IM), Noah Lang (100 IM), Alex Hess (100 IM), Isabelle Hughes (100 IM), Yanni Guskey (100 breast), Andrew Rottschalk (25 fly), and Alexis Schillinger (100 breast).
Breakers blow Sharks out of water
Against the Scott Sharks, the Breakers completely dominated the night by winning all 14 relays and 50 of 52 individual events - accounting for a lopsided 464 –64 final score.
“Scott has a smaller team and really lacks the depth in the older age groups, so they were at a bit of a disadvantage against us. But it’s not only about the numbers of course, as we’re fortunate to have some really good swimmers spread across multiple age groups. That combination has served us well up to now and should continue to make us highly competitive as we close out the regular season over the next few weeks, Stooke said.”
Multi-event winners against Scott were Samantha Stooke (25 free/25 back/25 fly), Ella Peterson (25 free/100 IM/25 fly), Shelby Bushong (50 free/100 IM/50 back), Will Richards (50 free/100 IM/50 fly), Michael Meyer (100 free/100 back/50 fly), Patrick Murphy (100 free/100 IM/100 back), Natalie Edwards (100 breast/100 back/50 fly), Logan Luechtefeld (25 free/25 back), Noah Hughes (25 free/25 back), Alex Hattan (25 free/25 breast), Kylie Clark (100 free/50 fly), Grace Williamson (100 free/100 IM), Luke Wagner (25 breast/25 fly), Olivia Mussatto (50 breast/50 fly), Alex Hess (50 breast/50 back), Brian Hobbs (100 breast/100 IM), Marcus Quinlan (100 breast/50 fly), and Bridget Muli (100 IM/100 back). Single event winners were Samantha Valentine (25 breast), Julia Scherrer (25 breast), Ally Denton (100 breast), Zach Thoman (100 IM), Isabelle Hughes (25 back), Will Sudan (25 back), and Camden Kimmel (25 fly).
This story was originally published July 13, 2016 at 4:18 PM with the headline "Breakers continue to make waves."