Iowa high school girls’ swimming powers split up for regionals

Linn-Mar’s Hayley Kimmel flies out of the water during the 200-yard medley relay during the Mississippi Valley Conference swimming championships on Oct. 22 at Washington High School. (Geoff Stellfox/The Gazette)

There will not be many showdown swims in Saturday's Iowa high school girls’ regional swim meets.

When the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union assigned teams to the six regionals, the top five ranked schools were placed at different sites.

Top-ranked West Des Moines Dowling will be at Fort Dodge with No. 2 Waukee hosting, No. 3 Ames at Linn-Mar, No. 4 Johnston hosting and No. 5 Iowa City West at Clinton.

All regional swim meets begin at noon on Saturday. Regional diving will be held on Thursday, beginning at 5 p.m., at Linn-Mar, Dubuque Hempstead and Johnston.

Regional champions along with the next best 31 scores and times qualify for the state meet, Nov. 11-12 at the Marshalltown YMCA.

“I do think there could have been some different division for the assignments that would have made all six a little more even from top to bottom,” said Iowa City West Coach Byron Butler, "but for the most part, the state did a nice job.

“Clinton is a quality facility. We have had some great swims there in the past. We are excited to have what I believe to be the deepest of the six regions in terms of talent level. With Pleasant Valley, Bettendorf, Davenport Central and other quality schools there, it will hopefully elevate our own team.”

Butler's Trojans finished third at state last season behind Waukee and Ames. Although West may be hard-pressed to match that finish in 2022, Butler likes where his team sits after winning the Mississippi Valley Conference meet on Oct. 22.

“We had some girls really step up,” he said after the MVC meet. “I am really looking forward to seeing them compete at regionals.”

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West will be led by senior Jade Roghair, who won the 200- and 500-yard freestyles at the MVC meet and has the state's top times in both events. As is his tradition, Butler isn't disclosing where he plans to place his athletes for the regionals until entries have to be turned in.

Senior Makela Hajek along with juniors Kolby Reese and Carlee Wilkins and sophomore Ave Bilskemper are other key cogs for West.

At the Linn-Mar regional, the host Lions, ranked No. 10, should be the biggest threat to Ames for the team title. Senior Hayley Kimmel is ranked No. 1 in the 100 breaststroke, No. 2 in the 200 individual medley and No. 4 in the 100 backstroke.

Lions Coach Charlie Hugo is following Butler's lead of not announcing in advance which events Kimmel, a University of Iowa commit, will swim at regionals.

Kimmel, who set a pair of conference marks at the MVC meet, believes her team will have a strong effort on Saturday.

“I think our whole team swam amazing,” Kimmel said. “I'm proud of each and every girl on the team, They get in the pool and do what they have to do. I couldn't be any prouder than to be a part of this team.”