Tate Sets School Record as Scots Swim Past IC

Monmouth Sweeps IC, Falls to Grinnell at Home

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (11/12/2023) — The Monmouth College men's and women's swimming teams split a double duel at home on Saturday as both the men and women defeated Illinois College and lost to defending MWC champion Grinnell. The men defeated IC for the second weekend in a row, winning 110-64 while the women avenged an 8-point loss from last Saturday with a 102-74 win. The Grinnell men beat Monmouth 134.5-48.5 and IC 149-29 while the Grinnell women beat Monmouth 102-74 and IC 151-32.

Women

The highlight of the meet was sophomore Cally Tate (Monmouth, Illinois) breaking the school record in the 50 yard backstroke. She swam the opening leg of the medley relay in 28.62, breaking the record set last season by Jaidlyn Sellers at 29.07. Tate also won the 50 yard freestyle in 26.24, a top-10 time in school history. Tate then improved on her top-10 time from last Saturday in the 100 yard backstroke with a second place finish in 1:02.10.

Nicole Fitch (Marengo, Illinois) finished second in the 500 yard freestyle in 5:55.28 and she finished fourth in the 200 freestyle in 2:15.44.

Freshman Aiden Bach (Stetsonville, Missouri) was second in the 100 freestyle in 1:01.56 and fourth in the 200 IM in 2:30.31, just ahead of Mady Gaus (Herscher, Illinois) in 2:35.91. Gaus also took fifth in the 100 butterfly in 1:11.39.

Monmouth finished ahead of IC in both the 400 yard freestyle relay and the 400 yard medley relay. Tate, Fitch, Rudy Poffinbarger (Rockford, Illinois) and Bach combined in the freestyle relay for a time of 4:07.82. Katie Oberheu (Fort Worth, Texas), Gaus and Fitch followed Tate in the medley relay in a time of 2:03.85.

Men

The men were led by freshman Tariq McLarty (South Holland, Illinois) who tied for first in the 100 yard butterfly in 56.26. McLarty also finished second in the 200 yard freestyle in 1:52.38 with Tristan Kennon (Flossmoor, Illinois) in fourth in 1:55.79. Kennon also took fourth in the 100 freestyle in 52.04.

Freshman Jaeden Peters (Greenfield, Indiana) won the 500 yard freestyle in 5:19.08, winning by more than nine seconds.

Freshman Kody Coyne (Bluffton, Indiana) finished fourth in the 200 yard IM in 2:16.54,beating all the IC swimmers.

The Scots finished second in the 400 yard freestyle relay as McLarty, Luke Foster (Galesburg, Illinois), Eli Wills (Blue Springs, Missouri) and Kennon swam in 3:24.31. The 400 medley relay team of Foster, Coyne, McLarty and Kennon swam in 1:44.94 and beat all the IC relay teams, finishing fourth overall.

The Scots are next in the pool for the midseason Beloit Invite on Dec. 1-2. The next home meet is on Saturday, Jan. 27 against Knox and IC.