Iowa high school girls’ swimming state qualifiers: Martin, Roghair lead Iowa City West to regional crown

Outside of Scarlet Martin and a few others, the Iowa City West girls’ swimming team is a young group.

The Trojans entered Saturday’s regional swimming meet at Clinton High School as big favorites to take the team title, and they did just that, but not without a few early jitters.

“I thought we performed well once some of the nerves were out of the way,” said West Coach Byron Butler.

West captured six of the 12 events, led by Martin and junior Jade Roghair, finishing with 484 points. Bettendorf was second (418), followed by Pleasant Valley (376).

Martin, who recently switched her commitment from Florida to Iowa for collegiate swimming, had already qualified for state in seven of the eight individual events with her times during the regular season.

A swimmer can compete in four events in a state meet and can only compete in the events they swim at regionals. Butler elected to use Martin in the 100-yard butterfly and 100 backstroke, the two events she won last year at the state meet.

Martin won both events with ease at the regional meet. She took the 100 butterfly in 54.72 seconds, over five seconds ahead of teammate Ella Hochstetler. Martin’s winning time in the 100 back was 55.76, easily outdistancing Davenport Central’s Hannah Cousins. The senior was also a part of West’s winning efforts in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays.

Roghair was a double winner as well, taking the 200 and 500 freestyles and was also on the winning relays.

Butler believes there is still improvement his team can make prior to next weekend’s state meet in Marshalltown.

“We are looking forward to another week of rest,” he said. “We can use that time to sharpen some skills that still need some work.”

In Dubuque, Cedar Rapids Kennedy used its depth to edge Linn-Mar for the team title at the Hempstead High School Pool.

Coach Chad Derlein’s team won just three events, but had a number of second- and third-place finishes to edge the Lions. Kennedy finished with 455 points. Linn-Mar was second with 429.5. Decorah finished a distant third.

Kennedy’s individual wins came from Audrey Repko in the 500 free and diver Audrey Leno, who won that competition on Thursday night. The Cougars also took the 400 freestyle relay.

There were two area swimmers who were double individual winners. Linn-Mar junior Hayley Kimmel took top honors in the 200 individual medley and the 100 breaststroke.

Iowa City High freshman Grace Hoeper won both the 50 and 100 freestyles. Linn-Mar had the other area swimmers to take individual titles. Lucy Haars captured the 200 freestyle while freshman Maura Carstensen was the winner in the 100 butterfly. The Lions also won the 200 freestyle relay.

Cedar Rapids Jefferson competed in the Ankeny regional and finished fifth with 202 points. Ankeny won the meet with 541.5 points. The top finisher for the J-Hawks was diver Nat Williams, who took second with 466.10 points.

Cedar Rapids Washington was at the Johnston regional and took sixth with 174 points. Diver Isabel Hawker was the top Warrior finisher, taking second with 407.85 points.

Here is the tentative list of state qualifiers from the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union.