Tuscola Torpedoes swim team wins of end of season dual meet
Grace Walker swimming 11-12 60 meter backstroke. Photo by Margie Carter.
Olivia Witheft swimming in the 11-12 60 meter butterfly stroke category. Photo by Margie Carter.
By Margie Carter
The Tuscola Torpedoes closed out their summer swim season welcoming Charleston Swim Club to Ervin Park for their last dual meet before Conference Championships.
Both teams entered 36 athletes, with Charleston having 101 individual entries to Tuscola’s 93 IE. Swim meets scoring is similar to track and field, in that teams with more individual entries have more chances to come in scoring placement, giving those teams a leg up in taking home a win before a single swimmer hits the water. Only 3 swimmers per team can score per event, and only 1 relay group per team may score per event.
A series of No-Show swimmers from Charleston evened the competition, then the Torpedoes repeatedly took 1st place, ultimately pulling them ahead in points.
Head Coaches Joy Cordes and Bryan Thomas also planned out a strategy for the meet of swimming-up swimmers. In swimming, athletes are categorized by age groups, however, they may “swim-up” to older age groups, never down. This put more swimmers in scoring opportunities in events with normally less entries.
According to Michael Lacine, former Head Coach, the Torpedoes have not won a dual meet since 2019 and never against Charleston. The team came out on top with a team score (female and male scores combined) of 429 to Charleston’s 371.
Other achievements to come out of Saturday’s meet were 50 personal record (PR) times for our pool. 23 swimmers also swam new events in our pool, 13 of which had never swam comparable events in another pool. In total the team set 73 PR’s.
The Torpedoes also set 8 new team records to add to the 2 new records set at their last home meet. New records for the year are:
Girls 8&Under 30 meter breast – Emma Lacine
Boys 9-10 60 breast – Jack Koehne
Boys 9-10 60 free – Jack Koehne
Boys 9-10 60 back – Jack Koehne
Girls 11-12 60 free – Ainsley Rennert
Girls 11-12 60 breast – McKenna Lacine
Girls 11-12 60 back – Ainsley Rennert
Boys 9-10 free relay
Girls 11-12 medley relay
Girls 11-12 free relay
“Wow, wow, WOW! I can’t express how proud I am of all the swimmers. I was not just proud to win but proud of how far so many of our swimmers have come in the development of their strokes. With only 2 months it can be difficult to make gains, but Saturday proved that the hard work pays off. I’m looking forward to Conference Meet.” – Coach Joy
“I’m pleased and proud of the kids’ progress this summer. Kids have swam up age levels and sometimes swam up two age groups or have swam in different events to help out the team. They’ve also done an amazing job cheering each other on for every event.” – Coach Bryan
“I just want to extend my congrats to the team. I love watching them grow a love for swimming. And although swimming can feel like an individual sport, Saturday was a prime example of how much a team depends on each athlete! Great meet!” – Tuscola Torpedoes Admin Board
