EAST MOLINE – There was only one thing on Newman senior Warren Melton's mind heading into Saturday's United Township Sectional swim meet: to break the pool record in the 200 freestyle.

While Melton did that, his wishes weren't specific enough for the fates.

After narrowly missing out on a trip to the state meet at last year's sectional in Rock Island, Melton's trip to the Quad Cities was much more satisfying this time around. His time of 1:44.10 in the 200 was 1.29 seconds below state cut (1:45.39), and would have been a new pool and sectional record – if not for the 1:43.70 swam by Rock Island sophomore Josh Fleming.