Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Jade Roghair and Grace Hoeper both saw Saturday’s Little Hawk Invite as a chance to see how they stacked up.

With three of the top five teams from last year’s state meet in the field including defending champion Waukee the meet offered Hoeper and Roghair an early glimpse of how they would fare against some of the state’s best.

As both Hoeper and Roghair showed on Saturday they can compete with anyone.

Roghair, a West High senior, and Hoeper a City High sophomore each won a pair of individual titles on Saturday joining Waukee senior Mallory Kell as two-event champs at the eight-team invitational at Mercer Park Aquatic Center.

“It was very fun to see these really good teams and great swimmers,” Hoeper said. “Especially because we’ve only had dual meets so having an invite and a great atmosphere and all these great teams it was really fun.”

Hoeper won the 50 freestyle and the 100 butterfly on Saturday while Roghair claimed titles in the 200 and 500 freestyle.

Kell won the 200 IM and 100 freestyle.

“We were trying to race Waukee since they are such a great team and just seeing how good we could do on a non-rested meet,” Roghair said. “Waukee is a really good team, you could see how good they good last season and I was happy to race against them.”

A sophomore at Solon that swims at City High, Hoeper posted the fastest time in the state this season winning the 100 butterfly in 57.61.

The winning time on Saturday is more than a second faster than the next best time this season held by Kell and was nearly two seconds faster than runner-up Willa Hage of Waukee who finished in 59.50.

Hoeper clocked the second fastest 50 freestyle time in the state at 24.16 while edging Waukee junior Payden Rafferty for the title.

“I like that it’s short,” Hoeper said of the 50 freestyle. “It’s so exciting because its always close. If you have a good start you are fine but the excitement and adrenaline is so good.”

Roghair entered the meet with the fastest times in the state this season in both the 200 and 500 freestyle and was impressive in winning both events on Saturday.

She won the 200 freestyle in 1:54.62 finishing in front of teammate Kolby Reese who was second in 1:56.26.

“I show up to practice every day ready to do my best and I have teammates that push me even when I am not feeling my best,” Roghair said. “I think we have a great team atmosphere and I have people that I can lean on and that I can compete with every practice.”

Roghair added a title in the 500 freestyle in 5:08.54 again finishing in front of Reese who was runner-up in 5:31.35.

“I think today was pretty good,” Roghair said. “I felt a little tired today from our hard week of practice but swimming those times are pretty good in season.”

Makala Hajek added a runner-up finish for West High in the 100 freestyle in 55.84 and was third in the 200 IM in 2:13.85.

Averie Bilskemper, Karen Liu, Reese and Roghair finished second in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:42.12 and Reese, Gretchen Gerke, Hajek and Roghair were runner-up in the 400 freestyle relay in 3:41.22.

“I think today was awesome for us,” West High coach Byron Butler said. “This is a meet against some of the highest level of competition in the state with the favorite to win the team state title in Waukee and our advice was to just go out and race and good things happen when you do that. Lots of people took advantage of that today and we saw tons of time drops today.”

The City High 200 medley relay team of Ellie Galloway, Saorise Miller, Hoeper and Margalit Frank was fifth in 1:58.4 and senior Greta Stainer finished runner-up in the 1-meter diving with a score of 361.2.

It’s really fun just to see a bunch of fast people in the pool,” City High coach Mandi Kowal said. “Hosting is always a challenge but it’s a great opportunity for our kids to have this and a chance to compete.”

Little Hawk Invite

At Mercer Park Aquatic Center

Individual Results (Event winner, area placers)

1-meter diving – 1. Liz Noll (WDV) 372.7; 2. Greta Stainer (ICH) 361.2; 8. Kamila Swanson (ICW) 329.95; 9. Ainsley Young (ICW) 324.2; 10. Aimee Varga (ICW) 322.7

200 medley relay – 1. Waukee 1:48.81; 3. West High (Makala Hajek, Averie Bilskemper, Karen Liu, Bella Friessen) 1:55.4; 5. City High (Ellie Galloway, Saorise Miller, Grace Hoeper, Margalit Frank) 1:58.4

200 freestyle – 1. Jade Roghair (ICW) 1:54.62; 2. Kolby Reese (ICW) 1:56.26; 8. Gretchen Gerke (ICW) 2:04.56

200 IM – 1. Mallory Kell (WAU) 2:10.94; 3. Makala Hajek (ICW) 2:13.85; 9. Karen Liu (ICW) 2:20.95

50 Freestyle – 1. Grace Hoeper (ICH) 24.16

100 Butterfly – 1. Grace Hoeper (ICH) 57.61; 5. Karen Liu (ICW) 1:02.52; 9. Maggie Greer (ICW) 1:03.95

100 Freestyle – 1. Mallory Kell (WAU) 55.6; 2. Makala Hajek (ICW) 55.84; 4. Averie Bilskemper (ICW) 56.73

500 Freestyle – 1. Jade Roghair (ICW) 5:08.54; 2. Kolby Reese (ICW) 5:13.35; 6. Gretchen Gerke (ICW)

200 Freestyle Relay – 1. Waukee 1:41.38; 2. West High (Averie Bilskemper, Karen Liu, Kolby Reese, Jade Roghair) 1:42.12; 7. City High (Margalit Frank, Elsa Farber, Saorise Miller, Grace Hoeper) 1:46.44 5:28.27

100 Backstroke – 1. Payden Rafferty (WAU) 58.85; 6. Abbie Chidister (ICW) 1:06.23; 8. Maggie Greer (ICW) 1:06.78

100 Breaststroke – 1. Willa Hage (WAU) 1:06.86; 6. Averie Bilskemper (ICW) 1:12.05; 8. Saorise Miller (ICH) 1:13.78

400 Freestyle Relay – 1. Waukee 3:38.93; 2. West High (Kolby Reese, Gretchen Gerke, Makala Hajek, Jade Roghair) 3:41.22; 8. City High (Elsa Farber, Ellie Galloway, Isabelle Polfliet, Saorise Miller) 4:19.88

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