Your Prep Sports

The goal for Andrea Adam was a state medal.

The expectation was a second straight top 10 finish in the 1-meter diving competition at the state diving meet.

What Adam accomplished on Friday exceeded both of those.

Adam collected the first state medal of her career with a runner-up finish at the state diving meet on Friday at the Marshalltown YMCA.

“I really just wanted to get on the podium I didn’t know if that was sixth place or fourth place but I definitely did not expect second,” Adam said. “That was crazy.”

Adam, a senior at Regina who competes for City High, finished second behind two-time state champion Claire Park of Pleasant Valley.

Park won the title with a score of 495.85 while Adam was second with a career-best score of 468.5.

Adam held off Ames sophomore Jayna Misra who was third with a score of 466.15.

“After my last dive (City High diving coach Samantha Wagner) came over to me and she was shaking,” Adam explained. “She asked me ‘Do you know what you just did?’ and I just started bawling. It was crazy.”

The runner-up finish capped an impressive two-year ascent toward the top of the sport for Adam.

In her first year diving, Adam finished 10th at state last season.

She posted career-best scores in three consecutive meets to end her prep career, raising her score by more than 57 points in the process.

“It’s just consistency on everything,” Adam said. “This entire season I have gotten more and more confident about everything that I can do and each meet has just gotten a little bit better. There have just been half points here and there that have made a world of difference.”

Adam was runner-up at the Mississippi Valley Conference meet last month with a then career-best score of 411.05.

She finished second to Park at the state qualifier meet with a score of 451.15 on Oct. 27.

On Friday, Adam raised that score by more than 17 points on her way to a state runner-up finish.

The consistent improvement has Adam, a former gymnast, thinking hard about continuing her diving career in college.

“It’s become more and more of a possibility,” Adam said of diving in college. “I really gained a lot of confidence from all the college coaches that have talked to me and I would definitely like to explore all the options out there.”

Adam’s runner-up finished helped City High to continue its climb as a team.

After not qualifying an event for state in 2014 the Little Hawks finished 23rd as a team with 19 points at the meet that concluded Saturday with swimming events.

Freshman Trinity Sadecky placed 15th in the 500 freestyle in 5:17.32.

“It’s crazy because two years we didn’t even have a diving program,” Adam said. “To see how far we have come these two years, now we have two divers and our whole team competed well and finished well at state. It makes the future look really good.”

West High finished 28th with 12 points.

Lily Ernst finished 11th in the 200 IM in 2:13.02 while teammate Melanie Housenga was 12th in 2:13.41.

State Swimming and Diving Meet
Marshalltown YMCA
Team scores – 1. Ames 341; 2. Johnston 197; 3. Bettendorf 189; 4. Waukee 170; 5. Muscatine 131; 6. Ankeny 119; 7. West Des Moines Dowling 106; 8. West Des Moines Valley 103; 9. Lewis Central 98; 10. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 92; 11. Dubuque Wahlert 91; 12. Fort Dodge 86; 13. Pleasant Valley 85; 14. Cedar Falls 82; 15. Linn-Mar 66; 16. Southeast Polk 60; 17. Cedar Rapids Washington 52; 18. Atlantic 36; 19. Dubuque Senior 34; 20. Des Moines East 26; 21. Fairfield 23; 22. Spencer 21; 23. City High 19; 24. Marshalltown 18; 25. Des Moines Lincoln 15; 26. Decorah 14; 26. Newton 14; 28. West High 12; 29. Davenport Central 11; 30. Boone 7; 31. Des Moines Hoover 4; 32. Cedar Rapids Jefferson 3.

Individual Results (Winners and area finishers)
Diving (Friday) – 1. Claire Park (Pleasant Valley) 495.85; 2. Andrea Adam (City High) 468.35.

200 Medley relay – 1. Ames 1:43.78; 21. City High (Carly Weigel, Laura Lorenger, Devan O’Rourke, Trinity Sadecky) 1:53.69.

200 Freestyle – 1. MyKenzie Leehy (Lewis Central) 1:49.94; 18. Carly Weigel (City High) 1:57.21; 25. Alleyna Thomas (West High) 1:59.01.

200 Intermediate Medley – 1. Lexi Horner (Johnston) 2:02.31; 11. Lily Ernst (West High) 2:13.02; 12. Melanie Housenga (West High) 2:13.41.

50 Freestyle – 1. Sarah Schemmel (Muscatine) 23.11.

100 Butterfly – 1. Kelsey Drake (Linn-Mar) 55.13; 16. Lily Ernst (West High) 59.86;

100 Freestyle – 1. MyKenzie Leehy (Lewis Central) 50.29.

500 Freestyle – 1. Berit Quass (West Des Moines Dowling) 4:58.5; 15. Trinity Sadecky (City High) 5:17.32; 21. Melanie Housenga (West High) 5:19.53; 23. Alleyna Thomas (West High) 5:21.04.

200 Freestyle relay – 1. Ames 1:34.88; 18. West High (Elaina Martz, Lily Ernst, Alleyna Thomas, Melanie Housenga) 1:41.1.

100 Backstroke – 1. Sophie Sorenson (Ames) 54.61; 18. Carly Weigel (City High) 1:01.24.

100 Breaststroke – 1. Lexi Horner (Johnston) 1:03.75;

400 Freestyle relay – 1. Ames 3:28.74; 18. West High (Melanie Housenga, Lily Ernst, Elaina Martz, Alleyna Thomas) 3:41.69.