High five
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| Newman’s Marissa Gill is congratuated by Sterling’s Alli Yemm and Sarah Wolber after winning the 50-yard freestyle at the United Township Sectional on Saturday. (Philip Marruffo/pmarruffo@svnmail.com) |
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EAST MOLINE – Maggie Wike walked up to her 400-yard relay team behind the starting blocks Saturday.
The Golden Warriors’ sixth-year coach had only one thing to say with Sterling leading by 5 points over Galesburg at the United Township Sectional.
“I told them they had to win it for us to win the meet,” Wike said. “That’s my most experienced team and they just shook their heads and said ‘OK.’ It was amazing.”
The relay team of Sarah Wolber, Rachel Lathe, Allison Yemm and Hannah Munson took care of business, winning the event in 3 minutes, 43.29 seconds.
The win qualified the relay for next week’s state meet and clinched the Warriors’ fifth consecutive sectional championship in Wike’s final year.
Sterling finished with 230 points, edging Galesburg’s 219. Newman finished seventh with 77 points. Morrison was ninth at 75.
“It means a lot to us win,” Lathe said. “It’s a reward for all the hard work and training we’ve done and all the work the coaches have done. We really wanted to win this for Maggie since it was her last year. Five-for-five is amazing.”
Wike took over the program from Faith Duncan in 2003. For the past two seasons she has been co-coach with Jamie Rodriguez.
“It’s just the right time for me personally to walk away,” Wike said. “I know that Jamie and the rest of the assistants are ready to step up and take over.”
Sterling qualified swimmers for state in four events. The 200 medley relay team of Yemm, Wolber, Munson and Sophie Borer started the meet by setting a pool record of 1:51.98.
“It was so important for us to start the meet with a win like that,” Wolber said. “I think it said we were here to take care of business.”
Munson anchored both winning relays and won the 200 freestyle in 2:02.84.
“I was confident that my teammates would give me a big lead in both the relays, so I wasn’t too nervous,” Munson said. “I am just excited to make it to state in the relays and an individual event.”
“Hannah has progressed so much by working hard in the offseason,” Wike said. “It’s not easy to swim the 200 medley relay and come back right away and swim the 200 freestyle. She powered through it though.”
Yemm, a four-time state qualifier, also made it in the 100 breaststroke. Her time of 1:08.32 was under the state cut of 1:08.49 and broke the sectional record of 1:08.34, set in 1995 by Monmouth’s Alissa Davies.
Newman’s Marissa Gill won the 50 freestyle in 24.81 seconds. It was her second straight sectional title in the event.
Morrison’s Brianna Eizenga became the first Filly to qualify for state since 2004 by winning the 500 in 5:35.37.
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