Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

MARSHALLTOWN – Saturday was a day for a hurricane.

“The Hurricane,” to be exact.

The term of endearment bestowed upon City High sophomore Grace Hoeper from her coaches and teammates feels all too appropriate given the display of blistering speed the sprinter displayed at the girls swimming state championships.

“She has got a lot of speed,” City High coach Mandi Kowal said after Hoeper claimed a state title in the 50-yard freestyle and helped the Little Hawks to a 17th-place finish as a team at the Marshalltown YMCA-YWCA. When she is on, she gets on top of the water and it is fun to watch her race.”

A year after bursting onto the scene last year as a freshman with a sixth-place finish in the 50 and fifth in the 100 freestyle, Hoeper entered this year’s state meet as the favorite and top seed in the 50 and knew she would have to cope with the added pressure that comes with being the hunted.

“I can definitely thank my coaches for that,” Hoeper said. “I was definitely stressed about it. They were just so encouraging and I just wanted to embrace it and be confident in myself.”

Hoeper did not disappoint, winning the title in 23.34 seconds.

“We are just so proud of her,” Kowal said. “She is young. … And she has done a really brilliant job of leading the team. She has impacted the program more than just that. She knows how to race.”

Hoeper reversed course a bit in her other individual event, electing to compete in the 100 butterfly instead of trying to better her 100 freestyle performance from last year.

That decision required some maneuvering as the 50 free and 100 fly are staged back-to-back with a 15-minute program break in between.

Before reporting to the blocks for the 100 fly, she stood atop the podium to accept her 50 free state title medal.

“It was definitely just running around a lot on the pool deck,” Hoeper said with a laugh.

Hoeper finished third in the 100 fly in 55.94 seconds, less than a quarter of a second slower than event winner Mallory Kell of Waukee (55.71).

“I think the fly stung a little bit because she likes to win,” Kowal said. “It was a tall order, but she wanted to do it. I said then, ‘We don’t listen to anybody else. We do what you want to do.’ That is what is important. I know enough that you have to want to do the races. You have to decide that. She has done such a great job just leading and then listening and trusting.”

Waukee won the team title for the second year in a row with a whopping 402 points.

West High was sixth with 122.5 points, highlighted by a pair of runner-up finishes from senior Jade Roghair in the 200 freestyle and the 500.

“I was excited,” Roghair said. “Those were pretty close to my personal best, so I was happy with them.”

Roghair swam the 200 in 1:50.96 and entered the meet as the top seed in the 500, but at 4:58.61, was two seconds slower than Faith Frantum of Johnston (4:56.25).

“I was happy,” said Roghair, who is still deciding on her college swimming destination. “I love racing Faith, so that was exciting. I was just happy that she was able to win.”

With the graduation of Roghair, West High junior Kolby Reese figures to assume the distance-swimming mantle for next season.

Reese finished tied for sixth in the 200 and seventh in the 500 and teamed with Roghair for a pair of fourth-place performances in the two freestyle relays.

“I think a big part of it was suiting up Kolby and Jade,” West Coach Byron Butler said. “The atmosphere is always a big thing.”

Reese and Roghair swam third and fourth, respectively, in a 200 free relay foursome that started with sophomores Bella Friessen and Ave Bilskemper and finished in 1:38.95.

In the 400 free relay that closed the meet, Reese started and Roghair anchored with Bilskemper and senior Makala Hajek in between and the quartet propelled West into the sixth place in the team standings with a fourth-place time of 3:35.10.

“We really just believed we could,” Reese said.

Junior Carlee Wilkins also contributed points with a 13th-place finish in the 100 backstroke for West, which finished at least sixth in the team standings for the fifth year in a row.

Girls State Swimming Meet

At Marshalltown YMCA

Team scores – 1. Waukee 402; 2. West Des Moines Dowling 267.5; 3. Johnston 184; 4. Ames 156; 5. Davenport Central 123; 6. West High 122.5; 7. Ankeny 108; 7. Cedar Falls 108; 9. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 101; 10. Linn-Mar 94; 11. West Des Moines Valley 84; 12. Sioux City Metro 76; 13. Fort Dodge 60; 13. Pleasant Valley 60; 15. Council Bluffs Lewis Central 52; 16. Mason City 41; 17. City High 36; 18. Grinnell 32; 19. Bettendorf 28; 20. Southeast Polk 24; 21. Boone 23; 21. Dubuque Wahlert 23; 23. Newton 21; 24. Marshalltown 19; 25. Waterloo Swim Team 16; 26. Cedar Rapids Jefferson 15; 27. Carroll 13; 28. Cedar Rapids Washington 9; 28. Perry 9; 30. Decorah 6; 30. Des Moines Lincoln 6; 30. Ottumwa 6.

Diving – 1. Trista Thompson (Grinnell) 538.30; 26. Ainsley Young (West High) 198.20; 23. Kamila Swanson (West High) 194.65; 25. Greta Stanier (City High), 192.55.

200 medley relay – 1. Waukee (Payden Rafferty, Willa Hage, Mallory Kell, Hayden Bailey) 1:42.89; 17. West High (Makala Hajek, Ave Bilskemper, Karen Liu, Bella Friessen) 1:53.07; 24. City High (Ellie Galloway, Saoirse Miller, Grace Hoeper, Margalitis Frank) 1:55.30.

200 freestyle – 1. Nora Kemp (Waukee) 1:48.73; 2. Jade Roghair (West High) 1:50.96; 6. Kolby Reese (West High) 1:54.80.

200 IM – 1. Olivia Swalley (Johnston) 1:58.59.

50 freestyle – 1. Grace Hoeper (City High) 23.34.

100 fly – 1. Mallory Kell (Waukee) 55.71; 3. Grace Hoeper (City High) 55.94.

100 freestyle – 1. Nora Kemp (Waukee) 51.08.

500 freestyle – 1.  Faith Frantum (Johnston) 4:56.25; 2. Jade Roghair (West High) 4:58.61; 7. Kolby Reese (West High) 5:06.20.

200 free relay – 1. Waukee (Nora Kemp, Willa Hage, Taylor Judas, Athieno Wandera) 1:36.69; 4. West High (Bella Friessen, Ave Bilskemper, Kolby Reese, Jade Roghair) 1:38.95.

100 backstroke – 1. Hannah Cousins (Davenport Central) 54.98; 13. Carlee Wilkins (West High) 1:00.85.

100 breaststroke – 1. Olivia Swalley (Johnston) 1:01.50.

400 free relay – 1. Waukee (Nora Kemp, Mallory Kell, Taylor Judas, Payden Rafferty) 3:27.66; 4. West High (Kolby Reese, Ave Bilskemper, Makala Hajek, Jade Roghair), 3:35.10; 23. City High (Saoirse Miller, Margalit Frank, Avery Mann, Grace Hoeper) 3:48.42.