Sports
Flippers will host SI Swim League championships
By John Roark
john.roark@register-news.com
Much like lunar eclipses, the Southern Illinois Swim League championships don’t come around too often, but the King City Flippers are prepared to roll out the red carpet this weekend.
For the first time since 2001, Veterans Park Pool will host the event, with seven teams joining the locals for Saturday’s 9 a.m. start.
“We only get to host it once every eight years, and it is our turn,” Flippers coach Laura Johnson said. “It should be an exciting time.”Around 1,000 people — 350 of those being competitors — will take in the championships. Anna, Centralia, Du Quoin, Harrisburg, Herrin, Marion, Salem and the Flippers make up the field.
“Look for Herrin, Marion and Du Quoin to fight it out for the team title,” Johnson said. “But we should be competitive in many events.”
The meet will allow a few of the more talented Flippers — Isabelle Heitmeyer, Andrew Roberts, Cheyenna Rhine and Aaron Holt — to shine one more time at home.
Heitmeyer and Roberts are both 9-year-olds, while Rhine is 11 and Holt swims with the 16 and ups.
“Isabelle is top-notch, and Roberts set three records last week at Marion,” Johnson said, “and would have had a fourth record had that event not been called back due to a false-start. Even then, he just missed that record by a hundredth of a second.”
Johnson says Rhine “hardly ever loses” and Holt last spring qualified for the nationals in Florida in the 15 and up division.
But, the Flippers coach laments her team doesn’t have the depth to challenge for the team crown Saturday.
“We just don’t have the numbers,” Johnson understated. “Our 15-18 year-old girls division is lacking, and our 8 and under and 7-8 year-old ranks are pretty thin. We lose a lot of points there, even though our 9-10 girls are strong, the 11-12s are good and 13-14s can be pretty decent.”
Johnson says the cooler weather means the water should be conducive to producing top times.
“We were concerned a few weeks ago, the water was like 90 degrees,” Johnson said. “It’s hard to get good times.”
Those who place high individually Saturday will have the chance to advance to the All-Star Meet next month in Milstadt.
All four basics of swimming — freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly — will be contested, as will relays.
Warm-ups begin at 7:25 a.m., with the meet beginning at 9 a.m. sharp.
“This is a big opportunity for the city,” Johnson said. “Teams like Harrisburg and Anna will have people staying overnight Friday, so that helps out the businesses here.”
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