Tate Breaks Three School Records; Men Win Meet

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (12/03/2023) — The Monmouth College men's and women's swimming teams competed on Friday and Saturday at the Midseason Championships in Beloit, Wisconsin. The men placed first in the four-team event while the women took third and overall Monmouth outscored Beloit, Illinois College and Ripon.

Women
The highlight of the meet was sophomore Cally Tate (Monmouth, Illinois) breaking three school records over the weekend. A month after breaking the record in the 50-yard backstroke at home, Tate set a new school record in the 200 yard backstroke on Friday. She swam 2:09.80 in the prelims, lowering the school record by more than two seconds. Tate won the event Friday evening in 2:10.85 with freshman Aiden Bach (Stetsonville, Missouri) in second place in a time of 2:20.26.

On Saturday, Tate broke the record in the 100 backstroke with a prelim swim of 59.37. She came back in the evening to win the event with a time of 59.57, nearly four seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.

She broke her own school record in the 50 back from last month when she stated the meley relay with a time of 27,75.

Tate also won the 100 freestyle on Friday in 57.10 and she won the 50 free on Saturday in 25.40.

Mady Gaus (Herscher, Illinois) won the 100 fly on Friday in a time of 1:06.42. Rudy Poffinbarger (Rockford, Illinois) won the 200 fly in a time of 2:32.96 while Gaus finished second.

Nicole Fitch (Marengo, Illinois) was second in the 500 freestyle in 5:48.49 and second in the 400 IM with a time of 5:14.07. On Saturday she also took second in the 200 free with a time of 2:09.51.

Bach was second in the 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:15.37.

The Scots won the 400 medley relay in 4:20.37 with Tate, Gaus, Bach and Fitch taking the top spot. The same four swam to a second place finish on Saturday in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:57.28. Fitch, Bach, Claire LaBadie (Griffith, Indiana) and Tate finished this in the 400 free relay.

Men

The men were led by freshman Tariq McLarty (South Holland, Illinois) who finished second in the 100 freestyle on Friday in a time of 48.95. Tristan Kennon (Flossmoor, Illinois) was fourth in 50.33. McLarty also finished third in the 100 fly with a time of 53.95.

Freshman Jaeden Peters (Greenfield, Indiana) was second in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:11.80

Freshman Kody Coyne (Bluffton, Indiana) was second in the 200 breaststroke on Friday in 2:24.94 with Ethan Main (Oneida, Illinois) in fourth at 2:34.04. Coyne took second in the 200 IM in a time of 2:15.12 with Main in third at 2:17.43. Coyne also placed second in the 400 IM on Saturday with a time of 4:50.04.

Luke Foster (Galesburg, Illinois) led a 2-3-4 Scots finish in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:12.15. Collin Helsin (Nashville, Tennessee) was third in 2:15.70 and Brady HIld (Tremont, Illinois) was fourth in 2:30.31.

Heslin won the 100 backstroke with a time of 58.47 while Foster was second at 59.00 seconds. Heslin also took third in the 200 fly finishing just ahead of Eli Wills (Blue Springs, Missouri) .

Main finished third in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:07.62 as he just out-touched Coyne in 1:07.74 and Camden Schmidt (Washington, Illinois) at 1:09.50

The Scots were second in the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:50.68 as McLarty, Foster, Coyne and Kennon teamed up on the relay. The same four also took second in the 200 medley relay on Saturday with a time of 1:44.47. McLarty, Foster, Wills and Kennon finished second in the 400 free relay to finish off the meet.

The Scots are next in the pool at Beloit College for a dual meet on Friday, Jan. 12. The next home meet is on Saturday, Jan. 27 against Knox and IC.