This Monmouth-Roseville senior will swim as a Titan in college, too. Meet Cally Tate
MONMOUTH – Cally Tate is a Titan.
That was true for the talented swimmer at Monmouth-Roseville High School, and it will be at her next stop in the pool, as well.
The Titans standout will continue her aquatic career at Illinois Wesleyan University. There will be more dark green in her wardrobe, but the team name is still the same, as Tate will once again complete a Titans squad.
“It was pretty laid-back recruiting,” said Tate, who had IWU on an original list of six college choices that she narrowed down to three. “Their coach looked at my times, and told me, ‘Yeah, if you want to do it, you can.’”
Those times include 58.14 seconds in the 100 freestyle and 1:05.82 in the 100 backstroke, which both earned Tate sixth place podium finishes at last fall’s East Moline Sectional. She also swam anchor on the Titans’ fifth place 400 freestyle relay, completing her leg in 58.83.
“My best event is the 100 backstroke,” said Tate. “My freshman year, I was around 1:08. I’ve gotten it as low as the 1:04s. I wanted to be at 1:03 before I graduated, but with COVID and a lot of the pools shutting down for a while, it made it hard.”
That time drop – which Tate believes she can eventually get to below a minute – will have to come at IWU, which competes in the challenging College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin. The Titans placed second out of seven schools at this year’s CCIW women’s meet, falling just 20 points shy of the conference title. The 18-member squad, which included just three seniors, is coached by the aptly named Teresa Fish.
Tate's mom played a part in success
Having the opportunity to swim for Illinois Wesleyan is one that wouldn’t be possible, said Tate, without the efforts of her mother, Courtney Tate.
“We couldn’t have done this without her,” said Tate, referring to herself and her teammates on the M-R swim team. “There was no other option,” for a coach for the program when it launched for Tate’s freshman season.
Tate’s older sister, Sydney, was also a competitive swimmer, with both sisters competing for years for the Warren County YMCA Waterbugs. Cally Tate estimates she’s been swimming since the age of 7, when, after watching her sister compete for a while, she decided that she could do it, too.
“Mom decided after having a kid in the pool for 16 years, and being able to watch us over all that time, that she could coach so that we could have a team,” said Tate. “It really opened a door for my future. When college coaches look at swim times, they really don’t want to look at what you did for your community team. They want to look at your high school times. I’m not sure I’d be able to swim in college without the opportunity I had at Monmouth-Roseville.”
At Illinois Wesleyan, Tate plans to major in international environmental sustainability, which she hopes will translate to a job “working with people and the environment. I want to be able to do my part to build up smaller communities, doing it in the right way so that people aren’t pushed out. There can be a fine line between doing good and pushing people out.”
This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: NCAA Division III: Mon-Rose's Tate to swim for IWU
