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5.0 years ago by Jeff Alderman

Alton High Boys Relay Team Swimmers of the Year - The Telegraph - 7/23/2018

Alton High boys relay team, Swimmers of the Year

Pete Hayes, phayes@thetelegraph.com

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  • From left, Alton High senior swimmer Cole Akal, sophomore Noah Clancy, senior Matthew Daniel and junior Caden Akal qualified for the IHSA Boys State Meet in seven events, including five individual races and two relays. The four grab honors as The Telegraph Boys Swimmers of the Year. Photo: 





Billy Hurst | For The Telegraph

Photo:

Billy Hurst | For The Telegraph

From left, Alton High senior swimmer Cole Akal, sophomore Noah Clancy, senior Matthew Daniel and junior Caden Akal qualified for the IHSA Boys State Meet in seven events, including five individual races and two relays. The four grab honors as The Telegraph Boys Swimmers of the Year.

GODFREY — They were like a well-oiled machine, four cylinders working as one unit, the Alton High boys relay team of Noah Clancy, Matthew Daniel and the Akal brothers, Caden and Cole.

And they won.

And they won

And won and won and won.

Trying to pick a single Boys Swimmer of the Year for 2018 would be akin to picking a singer of the year out from the Beatles. Solo, they’re good - together, they’re dynamite.

And so the Redbirds relay team which was made of four swimmers who became like brothers through the course of years training and competing for the TCAY Tidalwaves and Summers Port Sharks are the first quartet from any sport to receive Telegraph Athlete of the Year honors.

Individually and as a relay team, they wreaked havoc on the field at the IHSA Sectional Swim Meet in Springfield and advanced to the state meet in seven events total, including a pair of relays.

The dominating performance resulted in the most Alton High swimmers to go to the state meet. And a sense of brotherhood definitely played a part.

The four won the 200-yard medley relay in state qualifying time Saturday and they repeated the feat in the 200 freestyle relay, also in state time.

All seven of Alton’s state-qualifying events were in state time. Sectional winners automatically qualify, but any non-winners must swim the pre-set state standards.

Daniel qualified with second-place finishes in the 200 freestyle and 100 butterfly. Clancy qualified with a win in the 100 backstroke. Caden Akal advanced with a win in the 50 freestyle and a second-place finish in the 100 free.

“Well, swimming with Caden is different, I guess,” Cole Akal said, “because I also live with him. But in the pool, I treat Matt and Noah like brothers too. We have been swimming together so long, we definitely have a chemistry.

“We each know what the other ones will do and we know we have to work together to set up the next one.”

Caden Akal and Daniel were seniors, Cole Akal a junior and Clancy a sophomore. And while there is an age difference of two years from oldest to youngest, the four started swimming relays for Summers Port Swim Club’s summer team as youngsters and that continued when they joined the Tidalwaves year-round US Swimming-sanctioned team.

“We’ve been together since I was about 9 years old,” Caden Akal said. “We are all best friends and we hang out together - we do everything together,.”

They have made waves at the regional and national levels at YMCA and US Swimming meets. And while the Y Nationals is a pressure-packed, exciting week, nothing compares to the IHSA State Meet.

Garth Akal, Caden and Cole’s dad, served as the Alton coach. He was a national-level swimmer himself as a youth in his native South Africa. Since AHS doesn’t offer a traditional varsity swim team, the Redbirds weren’t eligible to compete for postseason team points. They swam at the sectional and at state as individuals and relay teams representing their school.

Clancy was the only state finalist for the largest contingent of Alton High swimmers ever to advance to a state swim meet.

Clancy was ninth overall in the 100-yard backstroke and third in the consolation finals. He was edged out of a spot in championship finals, but his eighth-place finish in the backstroke prelims was enough for a spot in the consolation finals at Evanston Township High. Clancy’s time of 50.76 seconds was less than a second off the third-place time in an event that was top-heavy with eight swimmers within 0.67 of a second from third place through 10th.

Clancy, who was 15th at state as a freshman in the backstroke last year, was fifth heading into the final heat, but was bumped down to eighth. He dropped 0.02 of a second from his seed time and had splits of 24.68 and 26.08.

“I felt good,” Clancy said. “I’m glad I got through to (Saturday).”

Daniel placed 17th in the 200 freestyle in 1:43.50 and was 23rd in the 100 butterfly in 51.49. Caden Akal placed 34th in the 100 freestyle in 48.50 and 35th in the 50 freestyle in 22.05.

The four combined for two 17th-place relay finishes. The four teamed up for 17th n the 200 medley relay in 1:36.71 and were 17th in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:27.73.

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