Tired Lion swimmers claim third at Cougar Invitational

CEDAR RAPIDS – Linn-Mar girls swim coach Chad Derlein can't wait for October, or maybe it's just that he's glad September is coming to a close.The Lions have persevered through a tough stretch, where swim meets were more prevalent than practice for a couple weeks.The tired and weary Lions didn't let the demanding schedule slow them down against some of the better teams in the state at Saturday's Cougar Invitational at Cedar Rapids Kennedy. Linn-Mar finished third in the 10-team field, tallying 374.5 points. Cedar Falls won the meet with 437, 43 more than runner-up Johnston.Linn-Mar captured a pair of titles and boasted a top-4 finisher in nine of 12 events.“We swam as well as expected,” Derlein said. “We've had a rough September. This is the end of a long run that I'm glad to be over.”Derlein praised his team for the ability to push through a stretch where the Lions had eight competitions in two weeks. He said he can't wait for October and some much needed rest.“We've been swimming tired, but they've been pulling through. Today I thought it was a great meet. We had some ups and downs but altogether we swam well,” said Derlein, whose team has one meet besides conference and regional meets next month. “Mentally, it's horrible for swimmers to have to do that many meets and not have practice. They've overcome all that.”Linn-Mar's Alex Dunn, Alexa Klimes, Samantha Fitzgerald and Emilie Berg teamed to win the 200 free relay in 1 minute, 45.07 seconds. Just two races later, Berg posted a time of 1:09.06 to win the 100 breaststroke. Berg also was the runner-up in the 50 free. Dunn added runner-up finishes in the 100 and 200 freestyles.“She's swimming her best,” Derlein said of Berg. “She's swimming more and harder this year than she's ever swam.”Decorahplaced fourth with 344.5 points. The Vikings were impressive winning six of 11 swim events and 12 overall.“We still had a lot of girls have some best times,” Decorah Coach Steph Huber said. “They had some good swims.”Twin sisters, Hannah and Mary Kathryn Maher, won titles. Mary Kathryn Hannah won the 200 free in 2:04.78. Hannah won the 100 fly (1:01.72) and 500 free in 5:20.78, topping her sister, who was second with a time of 5:33.48.“For Hannah and M.K. to take first and second, that was good,” Huber said.Allison Orvis added a title in the 200 individual medley, coming in at 2:13.66 for the Vikings, who opened and closed the meet with relay victories. Decorah won the 200 medley relay in 1:54.71 and the 400 free relay in 3:47.51.“All the girls at all the levels are really working hard,” Huber said. “Some of the girls at the top level work hard and they're performing really well this year.”Cedar Falls' Kelsey Abbas won two events, racing to titles in the 50 free in a time of 25.70 and the 100 back. She broke the Kennedy pool record in the 100 back, touching the wall in 58.11. The previous mark was set by Cedar Rapids Jefferson's Whitney Wodstrchill, who raced to a 59.45 in 2002.