MidWest One Bank Scholar Athlete of the Month: West High’s Roghair Follows Family Legacy of Swimming and Academic Excellence
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
IOWA CITY – Growing up with two older sisters Aurora Roghair got an early look at the excitement and energy of a high school swimming meet.
The third of four Roghair daughters, Aurora vividly recalls watching older sisters Jasmine and Ariel compete at West High.
“I remember coming to these meets to watch my sisters and thinking how cool it was,” Roghair said. “Coming to those meets is how I started to enjoy it so much.”
Roghair got her start in swimming thanks in large part to her older sisters but she learned much more from her siblings than just what it took to be successful in the pool.
More important than the pool pedigree she took from her family Roghair picked up pointers on how to excel in the classroom while spending hours training and competing in athletics.
Now a sophomore swimming standout at West High Roghair is following the path set forth by her sisters of excellence in both academics and athletics.
“She has a great work ethic, one of the best I have ever seen, her club team instills that in her and obviously her parents are very much a part of that,” West High coach Byron Butler said. “And she has two older sisters who graduated with their own 4.0s. One (Jasmine) is medical school at Iowa and graduated first in her class from Truman State and the other (Ariel) is at Macalester College in Minnesota doing great so she has that to look up to.”
Two years into her prep career Aurora Roghair has demonstrated the ability to juggle a strenuous class load and a full-time swimming schedule.
Roghair hasn’t just managed to stay afloat she has starred in both areas.
“She lights it up in the classroom and she lights it up in the pool,” Butler said. “She is the embodiment of the student athlete. She is amazing.”
In the pool Roghair followed up a strong freshman season with a breakthrough sophomore campaign this fall.
She won two individual titles at the Mississippi Valley Conference meet, breaking better than 10-year old conference records in both the 200 and 500 freestyle.
Roghair set school records in the 100, 200 and 500 freestyle this season and was a member of the MVC-winning and school record holding 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams.
“I definitely feel like I’ve made big strides from last season,” Roghair said. “I think my technique has gotten a lot better from last year and I’ve improved in every area.”
Roghair capped her sophomore season with four top-five finishes as the state meet last Saturday in Marshalltown.
She finished second in the 500 freestyle to state record-setter Berit Quass of West Des Moines Dowling in 4:54.2, the second fastest final time in the event in state history.
Roghair added a third-place finish in the 200 freestyle and set new school-records in the prelims of both events.
She helped West High to a third-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay and a fifth-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay.
“I was definitely surprised with what I have do so far,” Roghair said. “I have some times that I am still trying to reach but I’m happy with what I’ve done so far.”
All that comes while posting a 4.0 grade point average with a challenging course load that includes AP biology and honors chemistry.
Roghair, who says she spends between two and three hours a night studying and is interested in a possible career in sports psychology has a packed schedule during the peak of swimming season.
“We have high school practice in the evening and I also have morning practice and then I go to school so when I get home I have to start my homework right away to try to get it all done so I can go to sleep at a good time after practice,” Roghair explained. “It’s pretty busy.”
The hard work pays off for Roghair.
According to Butler the success in the pool takes a backseat to what Roghair does in the classroom.
“She has seized every single opportunity,” Butler said. “If you talk to the teachers she has right now they would tell you the same things. One of her teachers told me that if he had a Mount Rushmore of biology students that Aurora would be on it.”