Iowa City West wins 6th straight MVC girls’ swimming title in meet that came down to final event

Iowa City West girls’ swim Coach Sam Galvin sensed some tension and nervousness among her team during Saturday's Mississippi Valley Conference meet.

So prior to the 500-yard freestyle, she gathered her team together on the pool deck at Dubuque Hempstead for a little pep talk as they were in a battle with Cedar Falls.

“I told the girls they had to lock in and be aggressive,” she said. “They just went out and did that. Before the 100 breaststroke, we were just two points ahead.”

It all came down to the 400 free relay. West’s foursome of Hannah Geng, Averie Bilskemper, Bella Frissen and Kolby Reese came home well below its seed time, winning in 3:39.03. Not only was the time 10 seconds better that runner-up Cedar Falls, it allowed the Trojans to win the conference title for a sixth straight season.

West finished with 445 points, just ahead of the Tigers, who finished with 437. Linn-Mar (231) was a distant third.

“It was really important for us to win that 4x400 relay,” Galvin said. “It was not a tight race at all. We were not expecting that. In the seed times, we were just a second above Cedar Falls, so to win the last race by that much was quite a surprise.”

West won only four of the events held Saturday, but two of them were relays, which proved critical. The Trojans also took the 200 free relay and got individual wins from Geng in the 50 free and Reese in the 500 free.

Galvin also credited senior Carlee Wilkins for a strong finish in the 100 back, where she took third.

“Carlee had a big time drop that was a big surprise,” Galvin said. “That was also big for us.”

Iowa City High’s Grace Hoeper was a double winner. She took gold in both the 100 and 200 freestyles. Linn-Mar had two winners. Mehal Raghwani won the 200 IM while Grace Whisenand took the 100 back.