Former Hawkeye swimmers leading prep rivals

IOWA CITY – When Byron Butler was elevated to head coach of the Iowa City West girls' swimming team in May, one of the first calls he fielded came from rival Iowa City High.

But this was no time for trash talk – this was a celebration for Butler and City High Coach Zane Hugo, who were teammates at the University of Iowa.

'We've been talking about it ever since he got hired,' said Hugo, who leads City High into its Mississippi Valley Conference dual with West at Mercer Park Aquatic Center Tuesday at 6 p.m. 'How exciting it is that we can, in our own way, take what we've learned as swimmers at Iowa ... (and) show these girls another kind of coaching style. It's fun to be able to talk shop with a guy that I swam with.'

Hugo and Butler both swam at Iowa for Coach Marc Long, and their paths crossed as teammates for two years (2010-11). Hugo was primarly a breaststroke swimmer, while Butler graduated as the school record holder in two backstroke events and the 100-yard butterfly.

'He really instilled in us that it is so important to race,' Hugo said of Long. 'It doesn't really matter what your time is, as long as you're trying to win every single time. He really had us focus on the process and not so much the outcome.'

City High (1-1, 0-1 MVC) is hoping to build off a convincing Sept. 1 win over Williamsburg. Hugo has received strong performances from a trio of underclassmen – sophomore Laura Lorenger (200-yard freestyle) and freshmen Beatrice Kearns (100-yard backstroke) and Meirav Flatte (200-yard individual medley).

City High junior Devan O'Rourke and senior Alix Sharp continue to be versatile enough to swim both sprint and distance events.

Senior twins Erica Hsu and Alison Hsu lead the way for Iowa City West (2-0, 2-0 MVC), which narrowly defeated Dubuque Senior Sept. 1.

Sprinter Elaina Martz has provided much-needed depth to the lineup.

As he navigates through the early portion of his debut season as head coach, Butler guides with that same diligent attention to technique – particularly underwater – that he learned at Iowa.

'Doing a whole lot of yardage without doing it correctly, that's one of my pet peeves,' Butler said. 'We're going to always focus on technique over and over again, videotaping, making sure we're doing things right.'

After Tuesday's dual with the Little Hawks, West has a quick turnaround for a Thursday matchup at Muscatine.

TIGERS ROARING AGAIN IN MVC

Fifth-ranked Cedar Falls (2-0, 2-0 MVC) opened its season with a pair of resounding victories over Cedar Rapids Washington and Linn-Mar. Despite the loss of a couple of standout performers to graduation from a team that finished third at the state meet, the returners are plenty talented and versatile enough to extend the Tigers' stranglehold on the MVC.

'I'm excited to see where everyone turns out,' senior Madison Hall said. 'We've been kind of switching around, trying to figure out who works where. A lot of us can swim a lot of things and swim them well.'

Hall ranks ninth in the state in a pair of sprint events (100-yard freestyle and 50 free), while sophomore Olivia Clark is third in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:09.89) and seventh in the 200-yard individual medley. Sophomore Sammi Hall ranks sixth in the 100-yard backstroke.

Cedar Falls hosts Dubuque Senior on Tuesday. The Tigers return to the Linn-Mar Aquatic Center this Saturday to compete in the Linn-Mar Invitational, which includes Dubuque Senior, Dubuque Wahlert, West Des Moines Dowling, Muscatine and Albert Lea.

C.R. KENNEDY READY TO 'SPLASH4ASH'

Tuesday's dual at Cedar Rapids Kennedy between the sixth-ranked Cougars (2-0, 2-0 MVC) and No. 10 Cedar Rapids Washington (1-1, 1-1 MVC) won't just be an anticipated matchup of two of the stronger area teams – it will be an opportunity to help a family in need.

The Cougar swim team will be selling bracelets and accepting free-will donations to help the family of Kennedy freshman Ashley Bisson. Bisson was expected to join her senior sister Jayden on the swim team this season, until she was diagnosed in April with stage IV-B Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

Kennedy has adopted the moniker 'splash4ash' for Tuesday's dual, and a gofundme.com account has been established under the hashtag, '#AshleySTRONG.'

l Comments: douglas.miles@thegazette.com