Susan Harman

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – City and West squared off Monday in a girls swimming dual only two days after City’s loaded, multi-team invitational at the same pool.

The scheduling gods thus encouraged the two teams to shuffle lineups and do a few different things with events to keep everyone fresh.

“It’s a tough turnaround,” West coach Byron Butler said. “We usually have Tuesday meets and have an extra day to decompress. We had them swim some events that maybe aren’t their best, and it was really good for them mentally. But it’s still tough.”

“This is our third meet in a week, so I didn’t want them to swim in the same events,” City High coach Zane Hugo said. “So I put them in a couple races I wanted to see.”

While the shuffling didn’t likely alter the ultimate result, a West victory, 128-58, it did provide swimmers with opportunities to show their versatility.

Among the stars for the Women of Troy:

* Freshman Aurora Roghair won two individual events (50 and 500 free) and was part of two winning relays (medley, 400 free);

* Senior Melanie Housenga won the 100 butterfly and was on two winning relays (200 free, 400 free);

* Sophomore Lily Ernst won the 100 backstroke and was in two winning relays (medley, 400 free);

* Senior Alleyna Thomas won the individual medley and swam on two winning relays (medley, 200 free);

* Sophomore Austyn Goodale won the diving.

Roghair’s double in the shortest and longest events was certainly interesting. The 50 is an all-out sprint with plenty of company, while the 500 goes on for 20 laps, most of which she was all by herself, winning by 16 seconds over teammate Jenny Geng.

While it’s the same stroke, the two races are very different.

“For the 50 I try to keep my breathing down to one or two both ways; for 500 you breathe every three or five,” she said.

She cut 6-1/2 seconds off her 500 time after jetting out to start.

“I took it out pretty fast,” she admitted. “I thought it would be hard to keep it going, but I managed. When you see the 15 (lap reminder) it’s like ‘OK I only have to come back here three more times.’”

“She’s got incredible range,” Butler said. “I joke with her about her starts and her turns because I think her reaction time off the block maybe isn’t the best. But she’s pretty good. But between the flags I don’t think there are many people in the state that are faster than her. That range shows up in the 50 and the 500. She’s just able to attack all those races.”

She swam the backstroke on the winning medley relay.

Housenga beat City’s Laura Lorenger in the 100 fly by 1.5 seconds.

“It was mentally tough because I didn’t have time to warm up because of the Senior Night (activities following the diving),” she said. “I was just telling myself ‘keep going.’ And then at the 50 mark I finally got my pace and was able to get going.”

City’s Carly Weigel won the 100 and 200 freestyle races, both in breath-taking finishes. She held off Housenga by 0.37 seconds in the 200 and West’s Lily Ernst in the 100 by just 0.16 seconds.

“I remember being behind Melanie,” Weigel said of the 200.

Housenga led after the first 100 and was still ahead out of the last turn.

“And then the moment I could see she dived off one of the walls I said, ‘OK you can do this,’” Weigel said. “I had to power through it.”

Weigel led the 100 at the halfway point, but Ernst took the lead out of the turn.

“In the 100 I tried not to breathe as much as I had,” she said. “You put your head down and power through everything. I just try to focus on keeping my kick up, keeping my body position floating.”

“She did a really good job; she’s definitely a racer,” Hugo said.

Weigel cut 3.31 seconds off her previous season-best in the 100 and four seconds off her time in the 200.

City freshman Rika Yahashiri won the 100 breaststroke by a couple seconds over West’s Thomas and was second in the individual medley to Thomas.

Yahashiri posted her best time this season in the breaststroke.

“I was thinking about my next event (the 400 free relay), but I pulled through,” Yahashiri said. “It was tiring. Zane is always talking to me about focusing on my pull-outs and my turns and having strong turns.

“Breast stroke is my main stroke, but Zane pushes me to do the IM.”

“She’s an up-and-comer for us,” Hugo said. “She swims a little club in the off season. I think it’s great to get her in a setting like this where she can compete for her school.”

Butler said that senior Ruby Martin has elected to leave the team. Martin, a national-level talent, had elected to try the school team in her last year of eligibility but couldn’t find a way to make it work with her national commitments.

“Ruby, her parents and I talked, and she is not going to be able to commit after making the Junior National team,” Butler said. “She’s got an opportunity that only 30 kids get in the country.”

Butler said Martin will take time to train in Colorado Springs and would not be available for the regional meet that qualifies swimmers for Iowa’s state meet.

West High 128, City High 58

200 Medley Relay – 1. West High (Aurora Roghair, Jennifer Du, Lily Ernst, Alleyna Thomas) 1:55.44; 2. West High (Anna Reese, Margaret Liu, Silvia Tinelli, Izabel Houselog); 3. City High (Edie Knoop, Clara Froeschner, Laura Lorenger, Lauren Whaley) 2:04.12.

200 Freestyle – 1. Carly Weigel (ICH) 1:59; 2. Melanie Housenga (ICW) 1:59.37; 3. Kate Netolicky (ICW) 2:02.95; 4. Trinity Sadecky (ICH) 2:03.41; 5. Jenny Geng (ICW) 2:04.74.

200 IM – 1. Alleyna Thomas (ICW) 2:17.35; 2. Rika Yahashiri (ICH) 2:24.03; 3. Anna Reese (ICW) 2:25.67; 4. Jennifer Du (ICW) 2:26.6; 5. Erin O’Rourke (ICH) 2:40.73.  

50 Freestyle – 1. Aurora Roghair (ICW) 25.44; 2. Vivian Gibson (ICW) 27.1; 3. Laura Lorenger (ICH) 27.31; 4. Izabel Houselog (ICW) 27.8; 5. Clara Froeschner (ICH) 27.94.

100 Butterfly – 1. Melanie Housenga (ICW) 1:02.47; 2. Laura Lorenger (ICH) 1:03.97; 3. Silvia Tinelli (ICW) 1:05.57; 4. Lexi Janik (ICW) 1:06.96; 5. Edie Knoop (ICH) 1:13.64.

100 Freestyle – 1. Carly Weigel (ICH) 55.0; 2. Lily Ernst (ICW) 55.16; 3. Trinity Sadecky (ICH) 56.9; 4. Kate Netolicky (ICW) 57.65; 5. Mae Grahs (ICW) 58.9.

500 Freestyle – 1. Aurora Roghair (ICW) 5:11.17; 2. Jenny Geng (ICW) 5:37.35; 3. Anna Reese (ICW) 5:43.15; 4. Beatrice Kearns (ICH) 6:02.12; 5. Lauren Whaley (ICH) 6:07.94.

200 Freestyle Relay – 1. West High (Melanie Housenga, Izabel Houselog, Mae Grahs, Alleyna Thomas) 1:43.99; 2. City High (Rika Yahashiri, Trinity Sadecky, Clara Froeschner, Carly Weigel) 1:44.14; 3. West High (Kate Netolicky, Silvia Tinelli, Vivian Gibson, Jenny Geng) 1:48.55.

100 Backstroke – 1. Lily Ernst (ICW) 1:02.88; 2. Jennifer Du (ICW) 1:07.14; 3. Lexi Janik (ICW) 1:09.43; 4. Edie Knoop (ICH) 1:10.49; 5. Adriana McCall (ICH) 1:13.01.

100 Breaststroke – 1. Rika Yahashiri (ICH) 1:13.52; 2. Alleyna Thomas (ICW) 1:15.66; 3. Margaret Liu (ICW) 1:15.92; 4. Clara Froeschner (ICH) 1:16.01; 5. Vivian Gibson (ICW) 1:16.17.

400 Freestyle Relay – 1. West High (Kate Netolicky, Melanie Housenga, Aurora Roghair, Lily Ernst) 3:45.75; 2. City High (Trinity Sadecky, Rika Yahashiri, Carly Weigel, Laura Lorenger) 3:51.48; 3. West High (Mae Grahs, Jennifer Du, Anna Reese, Jenny Geng) 3:55.82.

1-Meter Diving – 1. Austyn Goodale (ICW) 193.05; 2. Rachel Hoeft (ICW) 162.35; 3. Breeyn Gryp (ICW) 158.8; 4. Eva Packer (ICH) 146.75; 5. Layna Manjione (ICH) 144.25.